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Ukrainian Lawmaker Tries To Flee As Russia Bombards Hometown; Blinken Arrives In Poland As Ukraine Refugee Crisis Worsens; White House Announces New Sanctions On Russian Oligarchs; Civilian Evacuations Halted After Russia Violates Ceasefire; More Than 1.3 Million Refugees Have Left Ukraine. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired March 05, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:22]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for this special CNN coverage. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague Jim Sciutto reporting from Lviv, Ukraine.

I want to welcome our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

And we begin with this breaking news. Brand new video into CNN showing Russian soldiers firing warning shots at protestors in the eastern Ukrainian city of Novopskov.

And those protestors, Ukrainians seemingly undeterred. This was a small group of protestors walking the streets, calling "Ukraine, Ukraine". CNN now learning at least one person was hit by gunfire.

CNN's Jim Sciutto joining me live now from Lviv.

And Jim, I mean this is just heartbreaking, no matter which way you turn.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: It is heartbreaking. It is also remarkable to see people here standing up to the Russian invasion, literally staring down the barrel of a gun there. And one person, at least, injured in that particular standoff. We will continue to follow that story.

Meanwhile, so many Ukrainians, they're trying to flee the country for their lives. Our next guest tried to flee today but had to turn back. Halyna Yanchenko is a member of Ukraine's parliament.

Halyna, thanks so much for joining us. I know that you're facing, like so many Ukrainians, you're facing the risks of this war very close to you. You've heard shelling nearby.

First, tell us, are you safe where you are right now?

HALYNA YANCHENKO, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Yes, I'm back, actually, that was not me who tried to flee, but my grandma who is 80 years old. She's sick. She needs treatment but she can't receive this treatment because we are here in Kyiv blocked.

And I'm giving this (INAUDIBLE) and other refugees another place in my family. I'm giving this interview from the room of my children. But there are no children in this house anymore. They became war refugees.

My two children who are 5 and 10 years old are now in the western region of the country and I didn't see them for ten days already.

And my story is not unique. Every second family in this country are going through the same experience. The pain and suffer and stress that we are going through is like really difficult to explain.

But at the same time part of people, including myself, decided to stay in Kyiv to protect our country, to protect our cities and protect our families. Because we are on our land. It's Russian troops who are trying to invade and occupy.

And I want to thank American society who stands strong for Ukraine, who keeps sending prayers, sent some donations, sent some help. But we actually -- now we need more military support because on a daily basis our cities are being shelled and we received a number of missiles (ph) from Russian occupation troops.

And today I try to send my grandma to drive away from Kyiv, but I didn't manage it because everything around Kyiv was on shelling. There were gun fires and there were missiles all around. So we decided to come back and I will try to help here at home.

SCIUTTO: You must be so disappointed. We spoke to the deputy mayor of Mariupol last hour who said that when these civilian corridors were attempted to be opened up with the ceasefire down there, that the shelling increased. He believes that Russians were deliberately targeting those people trying to flee. Do you share that concern, that Russians forces might use the cease fires to advance, to attack?

[11:04:36]

YANCHENKO: This kind of things have happened in the past for a couple of times already. There is very famous Ilovaisk (INAUDIBLE) when they agreed to let our soldiers out of city and let people out of city in Ilovaisk in 2015, I believe. And they shot -- Russian troops shot all people dead.

So actually, we experienced a nightmare here. A lot of people are killed -- our cities are on fire. Residential buildings, whole neighborhoods bombed by Russian troops and that is why actually I want to ask America for more military support.

That's what our President Volodymyr Zelensky has communicated to your senators today. I hope they finally heard our pleas, communicating directly to our president.

But now I want to address American society. If your governors are not brave enough then talk to them, send them messages. I don't know, go to streets. You are brave people. You always fight for democratic values, for freedom, and that's the same thing that Ukraine is fighting for and standing for now.

We are standing for our independence. We are standing for our states and cities. And we are standing for our future, for our children and that is our point. Talk to your government. For our lives, right. Explain them, that we need this no-fly zone.

If U.S. is not ready, if your governors are not ready to provide no- fly zone themselves, then provide us with military support, with antimissiles defense, with (INAUDIBLE), Javelins, stingers. We will take them and we will protect ourselves.

You see how brave Ukrainian army are. How brave the Ukrainian people are who left their jobs and went to territory defense to defend their families and their cities.

So we'll do it ourselves, just help us. Give us this hand of help that we desperately need now.

SCIUTTO: If -- if you don't get that help, as you know, the U.S. has already taken off the table the possibility, the U.S. and NATO, of a no-fly zone. But if you don't get that help, do you worry that Ukraine will lose this war? That Russia will win?

YANCHENKO: There is no way that we will lose this war. Because we will fight until for the very end. For us, the very end is the last soldier which will leave our land. And the very last Russian tank which will leave our land. And we will fight until the very end.

We understand that American governors are not ready for responsibilities. Despite the fact that American society supports this, that American society supports Ukraine and Ukrainian families, Ukrainian children who suffer.

That is why, again, if government cannot jump in and help us with, like, everything they can, just provide us with defense and weapon and we will protect Europe, we will protect democracy, and we will protect our lives ourselves.

But we definitely and desperately need the equipment, the defense and weapon to protect ourselves because Russian troops are killing people.

They have changed their strategy now. They see that they failed to invade the country and occupy the whole country and they started to kill civilians. Hundreds of civilians are killing on a daily basis.

Also what Russians start doing is, I just can't find another word, but homicide. They are shooting at energy and nuclear plants. We have cities, big cities, which have no electricity and people are living with no electricity for a couple days because Russian troops have hit the electricity and power stations on purpose to create -- to create panic among the civilian society.

They are, like, they are not people. People don't behave like that. People don't treat other people like that. And that is why we will keep fighting and we will keep protecting our cities. But we need help. SCIUTTO: Halyna Yanchenko, we're witnessing exactly what you're

describing here. We'll do our best to bring that story to the world.

In the meantime, I know that I and my team here with me want you to be safe. We wish you and your family safety through this. Thank you for joining us.

YANCHENKO: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: That's the story we're hearing every day, multiple times a day. Multiple times a day -- civilians, the deliberate targets of this war.

So let's go back in that vein to the video we showed just at the top of the hour. This just in to CNN, showing Russian soldiers firing what appear to be warning shots at the start, at protestors in eastern Ukrainian city of Novopskov.

[11:09:50]

(VIDEO CLIP OF PROTEST IN NOVOPSKOV, UKRAINE)

SCIUTTO: As you can see, all those people are unarmed. Those warning shots, it seemed fired in the air at the beginning. But CNN found evidence that at least one protester was shot in the leg there. We'll continue to find more information as we can.

What they were saying there was, "Ukraine, Ukraine," shouting their country's names to those Russian soldiers.

Joining me now, Retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's the former commanding general for Europe as well as the 7th Army. General Hertling, good to have you on.

You've made the point frequently over the last several days that the maps we often look at that show where Russian forces are in this area are misleading because those Russian forces don't actually control all those areas or many of the areas that they're in.

And I wonder as you look at that video there, does that give you that sense? When you have people with courage, frankly, to stand up, to walk towards the soldiers, rather than away from them.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's what I've been saying since this conflict began, Jim. If you as a nation have a relatively strong army, the support of the population and the leadership of the government for the right causes, you're going to win any conflict.

Now, Russia has the opposite of all of that. They have a corrupt and criminal leader. It's obvious that the Russian people are not supporting this operation based on the amount of activity we've seen in various Russian cities.

And what I would add to that, is the Russian military has shown themselves to be just incompetent and not able to execute a ridiculous plan, in my view.

What we've seen over the last few days, you saw -- you just showed the film of the citizens of that Ukrainian city, what we who have studied this war have always been -- have also been looking at is the Russian airborne troops, the so-called vaunted (ph) VDV have performed terribly.

Those were to be the strike force that went in first. And that's probably infuriating Mr. Putin. But they have repeatedly been ambushed. They've lost entire units. They've lost equipment. The Russian forces while still large is very clumsy logistically and I predict that within the next three to five days they will culminate in their attacks because they have pushed their attacks too far.

That doesn't negate the fact --

SCIUTTO: Culminate -- What do you mean by culminate?

(CROSSTALK)

HERTLING: -- continue to kill citizens and civilians and commit war crimes.

SCIUTTO: That's the thing we're seeing now, right, is more and more targeting certainly of civilian areas, civilians, we have accounts today that, at least the deputy mayor of the town of Mariupol, told me it appeared that Russia was deliberately targeting people in those quote-unquote, "humanitarian corridors".

The thing is that is Putin's playbook. He used it in Syria. He used it in Chechnya in the late 1990s and it succeeded, though, there. I mean in a scorched earth way. Are you concerned that that's what he does here.

And if he can't win it, you know, the old -- in a fair way, if there's any word, that he would just burn the place down?

HERTLING: And that is a concern, Jim. But what I'll say is, the examples that have been used repeatedly -- and yes, Russia did do the same thing under Assad's regime in Syria. They did the same thing under a government that they controlled in Chechnya and there was no fighting back from the local population.

The difference here is you have a population that is about to -- already is partly going into a guerrilla war. They're going to destroy troops and Russia does not have the advantage of supporting and providing logistics to the multi-pronged attacks they've made throughout a country the size of Texas.

They just can't handle it. They've taken on too much and that's why they're going to culminate. They will not be able to support their troops in the north, in the south, in the east, and in the center part of the country.

They're trying to be everywhere and they're going to be nowhere, which was a phrase I used about ten days ago. SCIUTTO: So as you know, the U.S., NATO -- they've taken a no-fly zone

off the table. By the way, the Russian President Putin said today that he would treat foreign aircraft in Ukrainian air space as part of an armed conflict. He seemed to be declaring war on anyone who might try that.

What then, is a step short of that that can help further shore up Ukrainian forces? They're already getting hundreds of these antiaircraft and antitank missiles and those seem to be having an impact on the battlefield. What else?

Or is there something else that is possible?

[11:14:46]

HERTLING: Yes. So a continued shipment of stingers, any kind of (INAUDIBLE) weapons, any kind of antitank weapons, support in terms of small arms for the guerrillas that will be coming by, and all of that literally thousands of tons of equipment, billions of dollars of equipment have already been shipped and will continue to be shipped.

There's about 17 large body airplanes landing in Poland every single day with new equipment for Ukraine about to be shipped across the border and it's getting there.

But I think the other important part that we sometimes don't talk about, Jim, is targeting information. Now, what I would say is, we're not telling Ukraine exactly what to hit. But we -- the United States and NATO are giving them excellent intelligence and helping them just to conduct operations on the battlefield, telling them where Russian forces are, where they might be heading, where logistics nodes are, all of that is critically important.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and it's the kind of thing deliberately not advertised, right, by U.S. and NATO forces.

General Mark Hertling, thanks so much as always.

HERTLING: You got it, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Today Russian president Vladimir Putin, as we were just noting there, issued a new threat saying that he would consider countries which imposed or would impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine as participating in armed conflict.

Top U.S. and NATO officials continue to refuse calls for a no-fly zone here fearing it could start a war, a direct one, between NATO forces and Russia.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Poland right now just across the border from here meeting with refugees, also discussing security in the region and pledging financial assistance for the growing refugee crisis.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand, she's at E.U. headquarters in Brussels. Natasha, we're seeing a lot of these trips -- General Milley has been over here too. U.S. and NATO officials deliberately -- I suppose you could say shoring up confidence visits, you might say, to some of these countries, particularly eastern-facing.

What substantively is he doing, promising, you know, to come out of these visits?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. And I'll also make a quick note that Vice President Kamala Harris is also traveling to Poland and Romania next week, also in a show of support to those eastern-flanked NATO countries.

But essentially what Antony Blinken wants to do, is he wants to get everyone kind of on the same page about the crisis in Ukraine, about the weaponry that they're going to be sending, about the humanitarian assistance.

And of course, he wants to show his support for how Poland has welcomed in over 700,000 refugees fleeing that violence and thanking them for being an ally that has agreed to house American soldiers there.

Of course, Poland feeling very vulnerable given Russia's onslaught in Ukraine. And so it's a very important ally for those reasons as well as the fact, as General Hertling had mentioned earlier that this is a transit point for weapons to enter Ukraine, for those countries that want to send this lethal assistance to actually get them into the country.

Now, Blinken is actually meeting right now or he just did with refugees who are fleeing that violence and he told one of them that what the Ukrainians are doing is inspiring the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What the Ukrainians are doing is inspiring the world. And the world is united in support of Ukraine and against Russia's aggression. And we are working very closely with our Polish friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That was Antony Blinken there to some of the refugees, the many hundreds of thousands of them.

Natasha Bertrand, thanks so much. She was in the E.U. for us.

I don't think folks are aware the scale of this refugee crisis so far -- 1.3 million people. This is a country of 40 million people. Many more want to flee. As they do, tremendous burden, influx for many European countries. That's a part of the story we'll continue to cover.

Still ahead this hour, Vladimir Putin has issued a warning to countries thinking, considering a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Is it enough to keep them out of the conflict? We'll have more.

[11:18:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Biden imposed new sanctions this week on eight members of the Russian elite and their families. The new sanctions are the administration's latest attempt to squeeze Russian President Vladimir Putin as his deadly invasion of Ukraine continues to advance.

Let's discuss with Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management. He was an early western investor in Russia. He has said and even wrote about it in his book that his attorney was killed in a Russian prison. And Browder has long said that he continues to be a target of Vladimir Putin.

His new book due out soon is called "Freezing Order: a true story of money-laundering, murder and surviving Vladimir Putin's wrath".

So good to see you, Bill.

BILL BROWDER, CEO, HERMITAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: So as a continued target of Putin yourself, I mean you can identify with the growing threats that people continue to face, especially there in Ukraine. So what do you think people need to understand about Putin's strategy?

I think the most important thing everybody needs to understand both in Ukraine and in the west is that Putin doesn't have a reverse gear. He can only move forward. Once he made the decision to go into Ukraine, there's no backing down for him, there is no negotiation, there's no retreating. He's just going to continue to move forward.

And he doesn't have any capacity to show weakness. He doesn't have any way in which he will do anything other than his objective. And so as we start to think about what we can do to him, what we should be doing with him, it can't be about giving him off-ramps. It can't be about negotiating. It should be about basically cutting off the resources so he can't execute this war.

[11:24:49]

WHITFIELD: So no submission, really no potential and kind of efforts of diplomacy or talks is what I'm hearing from you. So when you talk about cutting resources, these sanctions, penalizing of oligarchs, you know, cutting off energy, I mean do you see that these efforts ultimately are going to help? And if so, in time to save lives?

BROWDER: Well, this is a key question. It all depends on how well- implemented they are. So For example, we have sanctioned -- or disconnected some Russian banks from the SWIFT Payment system, but not all Russian banks. And so whatever banks are still functioning will become the new banks from which they make and receive payments.

We have sanctioned about a dozen Russian oligarchs. There's 100 of them that hold Putin's money offshore. We need to sanction all 100 of them.

And then there's the whole issue of oil and gas. That's a lot harder because some countries in Europe are totally dependent on it. But if we want to completely isolate Russia economically, then we have to surround them in all different ways.

And because Putin only can move forward, then our only real option here is that he stalls out for lack of money. This war is costing him billions of dollars a day and he doesn't have that much money left because most of the money he has in his central bank is frozen.

And so we have -- there is a chance if we do this right, if we do it aggressively and we don't leave him with loopholes.

WHITFIELD: Do you see that the oligarchs are at all influential to Putin? They -- their families feeling the pain from sanctions, from seizures of some of their assets, if they're to speak to -- reach out to Putin and say, hey, we can't take this anymore, this is way too uncomfortable, you got to do something. Is he going to listen to them?

BROWDER: No, he won't. And that's not the reason to sanction the oligarchs. He basically is the only person that matters. He doesn't care what any oligarch think, he doesn't care what anyone thinks anywhere for that matter.

The reason you want to sanction the oligarchs is because they hold his money for him and they have offshore resources that can be useful to him, particularly as his central bank reserves have been frozen. And so you want to freeze that money so that money doesn't become available to him as he tries scrounges and try to continue to fund this war.

WHITFIELD: And perhaps that other option, I mean so far the U.S. not banning Russian oil, a massive export for the country. Would banning oil be the other way to really hurt the economy, get his attention?

BROWDER: That would be the death knell. If Russia -- if Russia couldn't sell its oil and gas, they'd be bankrupt. The country would be bankrupt within months. I mean it's truly -- they're not -- they have nothing else other than oil and gas. It would be a true disaster for them.

WHITFIELD: So then what's taking so long?

BROWDER: Well, the problem is, that you have countries like Italy that are 100 percent dependent on Russian gas. Austria, the same thing. Germany, 40 percent. And those countries rightfully are saying, you know, the lights will go out in our countries. So we have to figure out a way to get them other sources.

It's not going to happen overnight. But you know, we're in a situation now where if Vladimir Putin succeeds in Ukraine, that's not the end of the story. It's not like that that's where he's going to stop.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: It's really just the beginning, isn't it?

BROWDER: It's just the beginning. He's going to then challenge us at NATO and then we're going to be in a full frontal war with Russia where he's going to be pointing nuclear warheads at us and we have to do everything possible to cut him off before he gets there.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right. Bill Browder, thank you so much. Pleasure talking to you. Appreciate it.

After the break, we'll be joined by the political editor of the "Kyiv Independent". He'll tell us what life has been like in the city for him and others right now. How people are getting out and what they're doing if they can't leave. How do they stay alive?

[11:28:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: As the shelling and the chaos continues, conditions in the southern port city of Mariupol are becoming increasingly dire and dangerous for civilians.

We spoke to the deputy mayor last hour, he said there have been so many civilian victims of the Russian bombing and artillery, they can't count the bodies. They don't know.

He can't get in touch with his own family there and you have humanitarian issues. They're running out of medicine, food and water. They're without power.

CNN's Scott McLean is live here in Lviv. And Scott, you've been following the news today of this civilian corridor that was attempted in Mariupol, but then we're hearing that they were -- people in that corridor seeking safety were deliberately targeted by Russian shelling. What's happening now and will they be opened up again?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Jim. What the deputy mayor telling you, adding certainly to the information that we're getting from the Ukrainian authorities, that these two cities, Volnovakha and Mariupol, which were supposed to have this humanitarian corridor today did not. And very few people were able to get out.

So in Mariupol, you heard from the deputy mayor there, people were gathering. It didn't last very long before, as he says, the shelling began. And there was also shelling, we understand from separate Ukrainian officials on the -- on the route to the city that that convoy of evacuees was actually headed to. And so that's why things were postponed.

[11:34:58]

MCLEAN: Whether they can try again tomorrow or in the next couple of days, we don't know yet at this point.

In Volnovakha, it was about two hours and 45 minutes into that seven- hour window when things went sour, when things went south. When the shelling began. And so officials there say only about 400 or so people managed to get out.

And remember, the Ukrainians say that some 20,000 people would like to get out of Volnovakha. 200,000 people would like to get out of Mariupol because of the deteriorating conditions that you described. And we're already starting to feel the effects here in Lviv.

We were just at the train station, we're actually not far from it right now and the reason we can't broadcast from there is because there's simply too many people using their cell phones and we cannot get a signal.

I've been at this station for several days now and I've never seen the crowds like we're seeing them today. There is a lineup that is likely several hours long just to get into the station, Jim because everybody going in there and it is almost entirely women and children, is waiting to get on a train to Poland.

I spoke to one woman who came from Chernihiv. She heard the explosion on Thursday, the bombing of those apartment complexes. Her and her mother who lives in a safer part of Ukraine decided they're not going to take any chances. Between that older woman and her daughter, there were six children, and they're now trying to get out of the country. You can imagine what it's like to travel with a group like that, when everyone has the same idea as you do.

SCIUTTO: No question. Civilians not just caught in the cross-fire, they seem to be the target of some of this fire.

Scott McLean, thanks so much.

Well, the stories you just heard there echoed in so many people -- by so many people we speak to in so many parts of this country. When we come back, we're going to speak with an editor of the "Kyiv Independent" newspaper about how those able to make the trek out of the country -- and it's not all of them -- are getting by.

[11:36:58]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Civilians still trapped in eastern Ukraine will not be able to escape the fighting today. I spoke to the deputy mayor of Mariupol in the last hour. I asked him if the U.S., NATO and Europe are doing enough to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI ORLOV: DEPUTY MAYOR OF MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: I think that help is very good and very powerful, very powerful. But it's clearly understand that we need help to defeat lives from the air. I don't know which the way is best one. Or set a no-fly area or giving for us anti-missile, anti-aircraft weapon. I don't know. I'm not a military specialist.

But I know that they use -- it's war crimes. We're facing war crimes. Hour by hour, second by second, he's killing our people on the street of Mariupol.

SCIUTTO: I have to ask about your own family. Is your own family stuck there with you?

ORLOV: I don't have connections with my mother, father and brother for four days. I don't know. Do they alive -- do they live or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: He doesn't know if his own family is alive or not. He told us there's so many civilian victims in Mariupol -- this is the deputy mayor, by the way -- that they can't count. They can't count.

The Ukrainian government is accusing Russian forces of deliberately violating a cease-fire which had been established to attempt to allow humanitarian corridors away from the fighting. The Red Cross says the operation was postponed after Russian forces continue shelling Mariupol and nearby Volnovakha just as that deputy mayor had told us. He believes that they were deliberately targeting civilians.

Now, in the north of the country, this is near the capital Kyiv, look at that video there. Video shared by Ukrainian military forces shows what they say is a Russian helicopter being shot down just north of Kyiv, it looks like a shoulder-fired missile took that helicopter down.

CNN is unable to verify when this happened. The source of this video, Ukrainian armed forces.

Joining us know is Oleksiy Sorokin, he's the political editor and COO for the "Kyiv Independent" newspaper.

Oleksiy, first I just want to ask about your own family because I know everyone in this country, even journalists like yourself, you're covering the story but you have your own personal story here. Is your family safe? Are they able to get out?

OLEKSIY SOROKIN, POLITICAL EDITOR COO, "KYIV INDEPENDENT": Yes, I was lucky enough to drive my family to western Ukraine after spending four days in a bomb shelter and hearing shelling of nearby residential areas. My family took a decision to leave Kyiv.

SCIUTTO: So well, I'm glad they're out. I'm sorry you're still there facing the danger. Tell us what we should expect for the capital of Kyiv. Because we've seen Russian forces follow through on a plan to encircle cities and invade those cities. If they run into resistance, to really burn those cities down, to shell them, including targeting civilians. Is the capital next on that list?

[11:44:54]

SOROKIN: A lot of people in Kyiv expect Kyiv to be next after Kharkiv. A lot of people say that Kharkiv is a repetition for Russian approach to Kyiv.

We know that from the north the Kyiv suburbs are now facing shelling and heavy fighting between Russian/Ukrainian troops and a lot of people are preparing for a very hard night tonight.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And the coming nights, I imagine. Ukraine, it's now asked anyone who supports the cause, who wants to defend the country, to apply and enlist regardless of combat experience. I've met some young volunteers here in Lviv who have joined the Civilian Defense Corps.

How many people are answering that call right now? Do we know?

SOROKIN: According to President Zelensky, two days ago he said there were 16,000 people. We can't verify those numbers. But I can imagine that the number is pretty accurate.

SCIUTTO: You know that there's been repeated calls from Zelensky and others for a no-fly zone. The U.S. and NATO have said no to that request because they fear that would put NATO forces in direct conflict with Russian forces. It might lead to a broader war.

But there's also been an effort short of that to send more aircraft to the Ukrainian air force. Where does that stand? Is that still possible? and would that be a step that could have impact?

SOROKIN: Yes. That's reasonable to expect aircraft from European countries to be delivered to Ukraine. The problem here is that Ukrainian pilots know how to pilot basically old Soviet aircraft -- that's MIGs and (INAUDIBLE) -- and not a lot of types of those aircraft are in the European Union.

So the problem here is that does European countries have enough aircraft -- those types that Ukrainians can fly to actually deliver them now.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Understood, yes. The pilots got to be able to fly them.

Well, Oleksiy Sorokin, please stay safe. I'm glad your family is out. I wish you safety as well.

SOROKIN: Thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Many of you watching now probably want to help. See how you can help. Organizations around the world and on the ground here in Ukraine are trying to help those in need of all the basics -- food, shelter, water, medical aid.

For information about how you can contribute, go to CNN.com/impact. There are a lot of great options there. And trust me, there's a big need here.

We'll be right back.

[11:47:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Some 1.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. More than half have crossed into Poland, others have gone to Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Poland near the Ukrainian border at a refugee shelter. So Sara, you've spoken to so many who have left Ukraine in the past week and a half now. What are you hearing from them today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, we're seeing more people today perhaps it's because we got here a little earlier but we are seeing a lot of buses filled with new refugees. Remember that just a little over a week ago, these folks had homes, they had lives, they had jobs, they went to school and suddenly they find themselves without all of that. Some of them have lost their lives obviously but some refugees, some of them have only left with the clothes off their backs and shown up here in Poland.

There are more than a million people that have come over the borders of the surrounding countries. Poland, by the way, has taken in more than half of those. So we're talking more than 500,000 people, and remember, Poland is only so big. There's only 40 million people in the whole entire country here.

But when you speak to some of these people, mostly mothers and children, it is heart wrenching to hear what they have to go through to try to get to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: A Ukrainian family's mad rush to safety, parents' desperate attempt to shield their two children from the terror only war can bring.

The family lived just outside of Kyiv. The explosions rattled their bones.

"We fell to the ground and 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 pact to smile and pretend everything is ok, even when they had to take the children to a shelter as bombs exploded.

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 witnessed men going the other way to join the fight in Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Ukrainian. Going to fight against Russians. They shall not pass.

[11:54:54]

SIDNER: But for a million other Ukrainians, fleeing is the best option, to save themselves and their children. For this family, the husband 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow. These people grasping on to the memories of their lives that they just left in desperation in any way they can.

And Sara Sidner, thank you so much for bringing us that report.

We'll be right back after this.

[11:55:43]

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