Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Condemns NATO for Not Establishing No-Fly Zone; Nuclear Plant Standoff; Growing Sanctions Cripple Russia's Economy; Around 100 Ukrainians Possibly Trapped in Bombed Apartment Block; Ukrainian Village Devastated by Russian Airstrikes; Mounting Calls for Putin to Face War Crimes Prosecution; Cricket Legend Shane Warne Dies at 52. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 05, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world. Coming to you live from Ukraine. I'm Michael Holmes.
And bringing you up to date on our breaking news this hour, a dire warning about the civilian toll from Russia's shifting invasion tactics here in Ukraine.
A senior Western intelligence official telling CNN that U.S. and NATO officials believe that Russia is poised to, quote, "bombard cities into submission."
Already Ukrainian civilians have come under increased attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): You're looking there at the aftermath of fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv. The U.S. says about 92 percent of the forces that Russia initially staged outside of Ukraine for its invasion are now inside the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And we're learning that Russia also plans to deploy an additional 1,000 mercenaries. Meanwhile, we're getting an inside look at that Ukrainian nuclear power plant now occupied by Russian forces. Ukrainian authorities releasing a video of a warning sounding inside the control room. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're endangering the security of the entire world. Attention. Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility. Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility. Stop shooting at a nuclear hazardous facility. Attention. Stop it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says that, while the attack on the plant was a close call, no radioactive material was released.
Meanwhile, as Russia continues its advance, Ukraine's president says NATO is giving Russia a green light to bombard Ukrainian cities by not implementing a no-fly zone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (voice-over): NATO has deliberately decided not to cover the skies over Ukraine. We believe that NATO countries have created a narrative that closing the skies over Ukraine would provoke Russia's direct aggression against NATO.
This is the self-hypnosis of those who are weak, insecure inside, despite the fact they possess weapons many times stronger than we have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke with the German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday. Germany says Mr. Putin told the chancellor that a third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine is scheduled for this weekend.
Turning now to a chilling video that captured the moment a Sky News team say they came under fire from Russian forces near Kyiv. Reporter Stewart Ramsey was wounded. The camera operator took two rounds to his body armor. Here's what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
STUART RAMSAY, CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, SKY NEWS (voice-over): We think it's a Ukrainian checkpoint and a mistake.
DOMINIQUE VAN HEERDEN, SKY NEWS FIELD PRODUCER: Journalists.
RAMSAY (voice-over): So we identify ourselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
VAN HEERDEN: British journalists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
VAN HEERDEN: Journalists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Journalists.
VAN HEERDEN: Journalista.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)?
Is everyone OK?
You OK, Dom?
VAN HEERDEN: Journalists.
RAMSAY (voice-over): Somehow, we have to get out of this. But the rounds keep coming. It's a professional ambush. The bullets just don't miss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run.
VAN HEERDEN: Where can we go?
Shall I call (INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Stop!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Journalists.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now the journalists say they were ambushed by a Russian reconnaissance squad. CNN can't corroborate Sky News' account of who was shooting at them. Needless to say, we're glad they're all alive.
More now on that attack on Ukraine's and Europe's largest nuclear power plant. It led to fears of a catastrophe in the making. And even though radiation levels remain stable, those fears still remain, too. Our Sam Kiley is in Dnipro in Ukraine with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russians have admitted that they have sent troops into the nuclear power station just south of Zaporizhzhya, itself about 80 miles south of where I am in Dnipro.
They say that they captured it in order to keep it out of the hands of a terrorist regime here in Ukraine. The Ukrainians have said that main battle tanks fired their guns, their big guns, against this nuclear facility. We don't have independent verification of that.
But we have seen video evidence that it was struck by at least one missile on the outskirts of the nuclear facility, in a room designed -- described as a training area.
This has been a catastrophic event that could have been utterly, utterly devastating, with international condemnation of the Russian move coming from around the world.
[02:05:00]
KILEY: But equally, desperate video evidence of the efforts made by the control room inside that location have also emerged, with the scientists there working inside the control room, broadcasting on the public address system, saying, "This is a dangerous nuclear facility. Stop your firing. Do not attack. Stop it."
Those sorts of remarks indicating just how dangerous they felt it was. Now those selfsame scientists are now being held at gunpoint by the Russian military, to continue to work to keep that nuclear power station running and to keep it safe.
Now they would normally have been switched out several times by now. But it's more than 1.5 days since they were overrun by other crews. They are, though, in the view of the Ukrainians, being held hostage, much like the crews still working at the Chernobyl nuclear site in the north of the country.
That was, of course, the scene of a nuclear catastrophe in the 1980s that poisoned huge swaths of the landscape from the British Isles to Russia, when it melted down and was brought under control with a great deal of loss of life.
The teams there who were captured by the Russian military had been there for more than a week, also unable to switch out, putting enormous stress on these nuclear facilities.
And coming at a time when the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has said that Russian forces are now about 20 miles from the southern Ukraine nuclear facility, one that has three reactors rather than the six just south of Zaporizhzhya.
But nonetheless the second largest in the country. And there are deep, deep fears that that, too, could fall into Russian hands. So far, though, the international atomic energy authority has said that the reactors are in the hands of the Russians, have not had any serious damage done to them, there are no radiation leaks -- Sam Kiley, CNN, in Dnipro.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Well, port city after port city in southern Ukraine is coming
under fire. Just west of Russian forces along the Black Sea coast is the city of Odessa. Residents there fear they will soon be under attack. Nick Paton Walsh has more on how the city is preparing. And a warning, you may find some images in his report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): What they once felt between their toes, now they want between them and the Russians: sand, from a yacht club's beach through the human chains, sent to barricade Odessa's center.
In times past, this fun spot would have pleasured rich Russians, too. Now even if you're aged 11, you know to keep them out. I expect, she says, we will defend Odessa, and everything will be OK.
Then a siren again. Off the coast, two Ukrainian naval ships pacing worriedly. At any time, the Russian amphibious landing could hit.
They clear out fast, although sure to strike a pose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
WALSH: Soon the alert clears, and the church bells begin to sound friendly again as people thin out underground. But the youngest are the last to leave and, for Kyra, age 3, these up and down days in the dark are too much. Nastya is bouncier.
"I've lost my train toys," she says. "Oh, wait. It's over there."
Parents who can only hope this happens so rarely. They never think of it as normal.
Out east here, the new Russian fake world that wants to envelope theirs is unfolding.
These videos showing apparently aid trucks in the center of Russian occupied Kherson. Ukrainian officials warning they are part of a movie scene being concocted in which Russia will hand out aid to fix a crisis of its own making. Although at first contact, the PR operation doesn't appear to be going that well.
The night before, locals filmed this civilian convoy arriving in town, possibly the fake locals intended to provide public support for Russia's occupation, theater we've seen before in Crimea and Donbas.
[02:10:00]
WALSH (voice-over): In one village around Kherson, a taste of how the future may look for Russian units out alone; these soldiers hunted, locals said, by actual local huntsmen. Now their radios, uniforms, map, call signs, vehicles, even, are in the hands of people who know the land and have shown they can prosecute their grievances.
Russia's wars are ugly but here, in remote hamlets that won't back down, is where they'll get uglier still -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Odessa, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Orysia Lutsevych is the managing director of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House. She joins me once again live from London.
Good to see you again. I want to ask you, what do you make of this U.S. and NATO intelligence saying Putin is likely to, quote, bombard Ukrainian cities into submission?
As we know from past actions, he is more than capable of unleashing such horrors.
What's your take?
ORYSIA LUTSEVYCH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, UKRAINE FORUM, CHATHAM HOUSE: I think we've proven that U.S. intelligence has been pretty clear and correct about Russia's war tactic, about Russia's intention to invade Ukraine. So we should listen carefully what they are saying.
And also, the NATO secretary-general yesterday said specifically, the coming days of war are likely to be worse.
So we're having all indications pointing in that direction. And also, we see quite fierce resistance of Ukrainian armed forces, jointly with civilians and political leadership, to defend every city. And they are not planning to surrender.
HOLMES: Now I know you look into this and so I wanted to ask you about it. We know Russian state media completely controls what most Russians know about this war. It's forbidden to even use the words "war" or "invasion". It's illegal.
But do you know if word is spreading inside Russia about what is happening in Ukraine?
LUTSEVYCH: The word is definitely spreading. And even at the official level, we've heard yesterday, the senator of the state duma, actually saying that, out of a company of 100 Russian soldiers, only four came back alive. She said it during the meeting of the senate.
So it's coming now on the official level. The Russian ministry of defense also recognized, I believe, over 400 Russian deaths in this, what they call special operation. But also we've seen quite strong anti-war protests. Over 6,000 people are now detained for that.
And I think that what is happening in Russia, now they are trying to completely shut down the information space. The Facebook, the Twitter, the -- all Russian opposition that was remaining, TV, Rain, Ekho Moskvy.
So they are actually turning this into the dark space so that the information cannot penetrate. And what is quite disturbing, the Russian dead soldiers in Ukraine are likely either to be buried somewhere in Belarus or cremated, because we do see reporting of these mobile crematoria that are accompanying Russian convoys.
HOLMES: Yes, indeed, that has been seen.
When you look at what's going on and you look at the complete lack of justification for what Putin has done in this country, you look at the sanctions and the pain that will be brought onto Russians, what sort of circumstances might turn public opinion in a way that actually threatens Putin and his rule?
Is there anything that could reasonably evolve?
LUTSEVYCH: I think it's very clear what is now the strategy of Western sanctions, is not to deter or to change Putin's calculus. It's basically to cripple Putin's regime.
And I think these sanctions have to be upped and strengthened as Putin is escalating and the kind of weapons we see he uses on the Ukrainian soil. So let's be clear that, for any kind of a change of regime in Russia to happen, this has to be a split from the center and massive protest on the streets.
You know, nothing is impossible. We see that these sanctions are hitting Russians really hard. We see that they're queueing to withdraw money, that there's panic, run on the banks.
People are actually leaving Russia because they see no future in this country. And Putin may even introduce the martial law, although his country is not at war, simply to clamp on any protests. So Putin feels extremely uncomfortable and he is worried.
HOLMES: You mentioned the pain. And it brings me to this. I was reading a tweet by the economist Anders Aslund, who's been on this program as well. And you retweeted it. I just want to read it for people because it's fascinating.
[02:15:00]
HOLMES: He says, "In 1998, the Russian stock market fell by 94 percent and the government fell within a week. Now the Russian stocks in London, the only real Russian stock market," he says, "have fallen 98 percent in two weeks. This is worse than 1998."
What sort of circumstances could see Vladimir Putin's rule fracture, given those economic situations?
LUTSEVYCH: I don't want to give false hopes. I think this is a one-man war, with a close circle of advisers and people who are super loyal. And everybody else really has little access to him.
That is why I think our strategy should be, as much as possible, again, to cripple the economy and to shut down the war chest.
And let me say clearly here on the program that you know, every day, there's over 4700 million U.S. of trade exchanged between U.S., E.U. and U.K. And that finances roughly 150 tanks per day. We have to look at what are we trading with Russia to make sure they
don't have that income, that one thing. Another one, of course, is the grace period for the introduction of U.S. sanctions.
This has to be revised because Russians are not giving grace period to Ukrainian citizens to leave the cities under bombardment.
And finally, I think some of the kind of, if you want, carpeted bombing of Russian oligarchs with these lists, that are quite small at this point, they should be expanded. And any rich oligarch who does not speak against the war in Ukraine should be on a sanction list.
HOLMES: Orysia Lutsevych in London, always great to get your analysis. Appreciate you taking the time. Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, oil markets feeling the squeeze from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Still to come, energy prices surging to levels not seen in years. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Welcome back. This breaking news just in.
The Russian military says it is declaring a cease-fire and humanitarian corridors for the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha. And that should be in effect right now.
Actually, it was meant to start at the top of this hour. Now the Russian ministry of defense issued the following statement on Saturday and we'll just read it for you.
"Today, March 5 from 10:00 am Moscow time," that was about 20 minutes ago, "the Russian side declares a cease-fire regime and opens humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha.
"The humanitarian corridors and exit routes have been agreed with the Ukrainian side."
That should be in effect right now.
Washington, meanwhile, keeping a close eye on Russia's escalating violence in Ukraine, as President Biden underscores the united allied front against Moscow. CNN's Phil Mattingly with the latest from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials are watching near minute by minute what's happening on the ground in Ukraine as Russia's invasion continues, the escalations continue.
And there is real, palpable concern about how things may ramp up in the days ahead.
However, top administration officials from the White House, the State Department, the United Nations, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, all across the board continuing to condemn Russia's actions, call for de-escalation and make clear, allies are as united as they've ever been.
President Biden meeting with Finland's president in the Oval Office and underscoring that point and the stakes. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've been in regular touch for some time now and coordinated a united transatlantic response to the Russian -- holding Russia accountable for the unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine.
And we agreed it's not only an attack on Ukraine; it's an attack on the security of Europe and on the global peace and stability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: That meeting occurred as secretary of state Antony Blinken was in Brussels, meeting with allies, a critical alliance that, over the course of the last week, has deployed the most comprehensive and biting sanctions package for a country against Russia's size that's really ever been seen.
More than 30 countries, more than four continents cratering Russia's economy in an extraordinarily short period of time.
However, both NATO officials and the U.S. making clear one thing they will not do is something President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested and that's implement a no-fly zone.
Very real concern on the U.S. side of things that that would lead almost certainly to a war with Russia, something the president has made clear he does not want and is not willing to pursue.
However, $350 million in lethal aid did arrive from the U.S. to Ukraine over the course of the last several days. Those weapons already being put to use. And that aid is expected to continue to flow if the administration has its way.
They've submitted a request for $10 billion in lethal and humanitarian assistance to the United States Congress. They expect action on that as soon as next week, all underscoring the realities of this moment.
As tense and tenuous as things appear to be, as Russia continues to escalate, the world, at least the Western coalition, is extraordinarily unified. And while there will be no ground troops to assist the Ukrainians, that assistance in money and humanitarian support and in lethal aid will certainly be there.
Now when you talk to U.S. officials, they made clear they know things are going to get worse before they get better. They expect a very bloody escalation in the days ahead.
And there's nobody at the White House or in the Biden administration who believes that, if Russia goes all in, that there's much that the Ukrainians can do to stop them in the end.
However, everyone here at the White House acknowledges what they've seen from Zelensky, what they've seen from the Russian military, has gone far beyond their expectations in terms of efficiency, proficiency and also courage.
Something that gives them hope and at least provides what has been the underpinning of the resolute response from the West --
[02:25:00]
MATTINGLY: -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, the peace and quiet of a Ukrainian village has been shattered by Russian airstrikes. We'll show you what's left of a town many had continued a refuge. That's when we come back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine, with the latest on the breaking news this hour.
And Russia says it's going to allow humanitarian corridors out of two cities in Ukraine, Mariupol and Volnovakha. That's beginning at 10:00 am Moscow time, which was about half an hour ago.
Now it declared this cease-fire along these corridors; those exit routes had been agreed to, say the Russians, with the Ukrainian side. Now at the same time, according to both the U.S. and NATO, Russia is prepared to now, quote, "bombard cities into submission," a move that will no doubt cause even more significant civilian casualties.
It comes as the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is blasting NATO for not approving a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He said that gives Russia the green light to bomb Ukrainian towns and villages even more. And he called NATO countries "weak" and insecure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): NATO's summit took place today, a weak summit, a confused summit, a summit that shows not everyone considers the struggle for freedom to be Europe's number one goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now we're learning around 100 people could be tracked in the rubble of a wrecked apartment block.
[02:30:00]
HOLMES: This is in Borodyanka. The town just northwest of Kyiv has seen persistent shelling in the past few days. And in a phone call with the German chancellor on Friday, Russian president Vladimir Putin, he called news of Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities, quote, "gross propaganda fakes."
Well, the price of Brent crude oil surged 7 percent on Friday, reaching its highest levels in nine years. U.S. crude following suit, climbing to its highest price in 14 years. Eleni Giokos joins me now from Dubai with more on this.
And Eleni, the sanctions on Russia, they come with enormous economic consequences. And it's not just consequences for Russia.
What are the markets telling us?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. And focusing on oil is probably one of the most important things that's on everyone's mind.
What does this mean for inflation?
What does it mean for economic growth after dealing with an unprecedented experience like COVID-19?
What does this mean for businesses?
I want you to take a look at just how many global companies are trying to cut ties with Russia, trying to disinvest, trying to shut down operations.
The consequences are enormous not only for Russian businesses and people in Russia but also for any company that had any exposure, any assets, any country that was importing or exporting to Russia. They're trying to figure out a way to implement these sanctions.
And we're talking about big businesses. But we also have got to keep in mind those small companies that are also very much exposed, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds as well, anecdotally here in the UAE, I was talking to one asset manager, saying they don't know what to do next with their Russian clients because they have to adhere to U.S. sanctions.
So it's really been interesting to see how this cuts across so many segments. But I have to say, Michael, that the mother of all sanctions will be putting a complete ban on the exportation of oil and gas out of Russia.
You're seeing what oil prices are doing right now; cutting Russia out of the SWIFT system has made it very difficult to make good on some of those payments and that's why you're seeing oil prices rise.
The question is can other OPEC countries make good on filling the gap on those supply constraints?
And is the West going to put a total ban on oil and gas down the line?
HOLMES: There's all this talk, Eleni, a potential realignment of world powers.
In that context how important is it to get China and other emerging markets on board with sanctions?
GIOKOS: It's such a good question. I want you to take a look at this map. It's the U.N. resolution vote that countries could condemn Russian aggression.
I want you to look at the gray areas: China abstaining, India doing the same, South Africa doing the same, many African countries sitting on the sidelines; Brazil, importantly voting for the resolution.
Why are those countries important?
So Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa have been, on the sidelines since the global financial crisis, working very closely together to create an emerging market alternative to the SWIFT system or trying to circumvent the use of the U.S. dollar.
Russia and China have been, for five years, building up those relations, trying to go beyond using the U.S. dollar for making good on trade; using the yuan, which is the Chinese currency, instead of the U.S. dollar.
So what happens if you start to see an alliance of emerging markets come together to try and circumvent the U.S. sanctions and Western sanctions?
I think it's going to be important because, by the way, we know that Vladimir Putin has been thinking about this, has been really meticulous in his planning. He knew that sanctions were going to come. He didn't understand the wrath and the full extent of it.
But of course, he was putting very important economic partnerships in place, which would be difficult to break, because it would come with a huge economic impact.
We'll have to watch what's happening in the emerging market space.
And I think analysts also talking about, is this the start of perhaps dedollarization or a recalibration of economic powers? This is going to be really interesting to see how the U.S. is going to implement these sanctions, how it's going to be taken by countries around the world and how businesses are going to respond.
HOLMES: Yes, fascinating stuff. Eleni Giokos in Dubai, appreciate that. Thanks so much.
Now some people in Eastern Ukraine thought an idyllic village, a place with no military or strategic importance, well, you'd think that would be a safe haven from Russian bombs, wouldn't you?
Well, they were wrong. As ITN's Dan Rivers reports, it has become a Russian target for airstrikes. But a warning: some of the images in this piece are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, ITN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, it appears a peaceful sanctuary, which is why those bombed out of Kharkiv sought refuge here. But a closer look shows the village of Yakivlivka was anything but safe. It was devastated by what locals say were four Russian airstrikes. And this was the result.
[02:35:00]
RIVERS (voice-over): The body of Victor (ph) lies in front of the home where he perished as firemen search for that of his wife, Oksana (ph), still buried under its ruins.
RIVERS: What we're seeing here is the true face of this Russian invasion. President Putin doesn't seem to care for the civilians are caught by his shells and rockets. He's not liberating this country is destroying it.
RIVERS (voice-over): There is no hearse for the bodies. (INAUDIBLE) in this war has already robbed the dead of their dignity, and left the living seething with fury.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): "Putin, you should die," he says.
In Natasha's garden, they're sifting the rubble for anything worth salvaging. She was sheltering nine people in her home, including several young children. Their car had been shot as they ran the gantlet from the city.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With children.
RIVERS: And two children were here?
RIVERS (voice-over): She shows me where they were sleeping when the first missile hit. The shockwave ripped through every room, lacerating them all with glass. The children escaped without major injury.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language). RIVERS (voice-over): Across the street, a garden hewn apart by the impact. The blast is so powerful it overturned cars. The crater so deep you could bury one inside it.
People are left sifting through what's left without the support of any aid agencies, wondering what will come next. Is the shelling continues to echo across this shattered community. There is no obvious military targets here, just a village which tried to offer shelter to those in need -- Dan Rivers, News ITN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Refugees are pouring across borders to escape the fighting. The U.N. says 1.2 million people have already fled to other countries, many more on their way. Nearly 650,000 people seeking refuge in Poland alone. Many have fled to Polish border towns, where they've been reunited with family and friends.
Now the plight of the refugees is also mobilizing volunteers around the world to help. Ukrainian and Italian volunteers in roam joining forces to send humanitarian aid, badly needed items like food, blankets, warm clothes and medicine all on the way now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARKO SEMEHEN, UKRAINIAN PRIEST (through translator): We hope this war will end as soon as possible. We are worried because Ukraine is our homeland, the country where we were born and where we hope to return.
I think people feel a great sense of injustice because Ukrainians are quiet and peaceful people, who live in their own country. We had no demands from anyone. We just wanted to continue our European journey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the people in Ukraine, of course, do need the very basics, shelter, food, water and warm clothing. It is very cold here at the moment.
If you would like to help, please go to cnn.com/impact. You're going to find a lot of resources there to help you navigate, give assistance.
All right. My colleague, Paula Newton, is going to pick up our coverage of the invasion of Ukraine after the break, including growing calls for Russia's president to face war crimes charges over his actions here. I'll see you a little bit later on.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello. I'm Paula Newton with more of our breaking news coverage.
As Russian troops pummel Ukrainian cities calls are growing for the man who ordered this invasion to face war crimes charges. Now the U.S. embassy in Kyiv sent this tweet Friday. You see it there, saying Russia's attack on the Ukrainian nuclear plant is a war crime.
The U.S. State Department later told other embassies not to share the tweet. But as Brian Todd reports, some want prosecutors to go after President Putin himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Demand is growing tonight for the Russian president and former KGB colonel in the Kremlin to be prosecuted for war crimes.
ARSENIY YATSENYUK, FORMER UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Putin is a war criminal. He has to sit behind the bars in International Criminal Court.
TODD: The International Criminal Court is now investigating possible war crimes by the Russians in Ukraine.
KARIM KHAN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: The whole world is watching and the whole world is concerned about the events that are unfolding in this horrible conflict. TODD: While the Biden administration is, for now, not saying whether
Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes in Ukraine, one of America's closest allies, isn't mincing words.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: But we have seen already, from Vladimir Putin's regime and the use of munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, Mr. Speaker, in my view, already fully qualifies as a war crime.
TODD: The munitions in question which would point to war crimes, cluster bombs in a crowded densely populated area. NATO secretary general confirms Russia is using them.
Amnesty International says one fell on a Ukrainian kindergarten. They're considered indiscriminate. A missile explodes thousands of feet in the air, releasing smaller bombs that detonate when they fall to the ground.
And a horrific weapon called the vacuum bomb, which America's ambassador to the U.N. says Russia is preparing to use.
RYAN GOODMAN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: These bombs are thought of as bombs that can basically vaporize people. And they can suck the oxygen out of an area. That's never supposed to be used in civilian area. That's why it's so alarming.
TODD: Experts say in some previous cases, where war crimes have been alleged, arguments could be made at the head of state might not have known about them or that a commander on the ground went rogue. [02:45:00]
TODD (voice-over): But one veteran of war crimes cases believes that's not what's happening in Ukraine.
STEPHEN J. RAPP, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE, WAR CRIMES ISSUES: This is a situation that goes exactly to the top, no question. This is Putin's decision-making that he has full knowledge of. And that he is in control of. You know, I predict in a few months that we have an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
TODD: But actually bringing Putin to justice is another matter. Only a few convictions have ever been won in the International Criminal Court.
As for apprehending Putin --
GOODMAN: It's very difficult to imagine this scenario in which Putin would actually be in the dock. As the head of state, as somebody that nobody's going to be able to go into Russia and apprehend them.
TODD: But an indictment for war crimes, experts say, could weaken Putin and other ways.
RAPP: No more summits. No more going -- no more hope for visiting his tens of billions of dollars of property. And I think in the end and it'll make him quite dispensable as the leader of Russians.
TODD: The Kremlin has categorically denied committing war crimes in Ukraine. Putin's main spokesman saying, "We strongly reject this." The Russians have also denied targeting civilians in Ukraine -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: One of the world's greatest chess players, who is also an outspoken Russian pro-democracy leader, is urging action against what he calls Putin's brutal war on Ukraine. Now in a 13-part tweet, Russian grand master Garry Kasparov posted this.
"There is no waiting this out. This isn't chess; there's no draw, no stalemate. Either Putin destroys Ukraine and eventually hits NATO with an even greater catastrophe or Putin falls in Russia. He cannot be stopped with weakness."
CNN's Anderson Cooper talked to the Kremlin critic earlier. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARRY KASPAROV, RUSSIAN PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER: What we see now, it's Putin's stress, after his original plan of conquering Ukraine has two days, three days failed.
I think Putin's original plan was based on a false assessment of strengths, Russian strengths and Ukrainian strengths. He believed that he could enter Kyiv in two days, three days, install a puppet government and then back to negotiating table with the free world about conditions of Ukrainian capitulation. It didn't work out.
And since his army's stopped and couldn't make any progress in the north of Ukraine -- some progress in the south but again less than they wanted -- the third largest city of Ukraine, the harbor of Odessa, is still standing.
And Russians failed to land the troops there so Putin returned to his favorite tactics, bombing people into submission. You mentioned Grozny and Aleppo.
And he believes that now, with NATO watching this modern genocide?
It's genocide on an industrial scale. So he could continue these tactics.
And also, I think, it's a message to the world.
"I can do whatever I want, because I have nukes, and you will not interfere."
And I think that's -- it's terribly, terribly dangerous for all of us to accept this nuclear blackmail, because Putin will never stop in Ukraine.
If he succeeds, God forbid, he will definitely test NATO, on the NATO territory.
And those, who say, "Oh, we cannot impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine," because of the -- because of the risk, obvious risk, of confrontation, with Russia military confrontation.
So how are they going to defend NATO countries, like Lithuania or Latvia or Poland?
Because these countries will be attacked by Putin if his murderous strategy in Ukraine prevails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Kasparov also warned that what happens now could affect, quote, "the entire future of our civilization."
OK, Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, legendary cricketer Shane Warne passed away suddenly on Friday. We take a look back at his amazing career. That's after the break.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING) NEWTON: North Korea has fired what appears to be a single ballistic
missile into the waters east of the Korean Peninsula. Now that's according to South Korean officials.
Seoul held an emergency meeting of its National Security Council in response to Pyongyang's ninth test of the year.
The U.S. condemned the launch and says it's monitoring the situation. Analysts say the increased testing shows North Korean leader Kim Jong- un is trying to show his nation remains a key player in the struggle for power.
Now to Pakistan: hundreds of mourners attended funeral prayers for over a dozen victims of a suicide mosque bombing. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosion in the northern city of Peshawar on Friday. It killed at least 56 people and injured nearly 200.
Officials say the blast took place in the Friday prayer attended by Shia Muslims. Officials say this is the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2018.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics are underway. Ukraine has won its first gold medal of the games. It was in the Para biathlon men sprint standing event. The games kicked off with a message of peace.
During the opening ceremony, the president for the International Paralympic Committee made an impassioned plea for dialogue and diplomacy, not war and hate.
Now to some shocking news from the world of cricket. Aussie Shane Warne, widely considered the greatest to ever play the game, passed away suddenly on Friday. He was just 52. He died of a suspected heart attack.
(WORLD SPORT)
[02:55:00]
NEWTON: Stay with us. I'm Paula Newton. We will have more of our live breaking coverage from Ukraine right after the break.
