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New Video Shows Jets Attacking City Of Irpin Near Kyiv; Ukrainian People Protest Russian Invasion; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Urges Ukrainians To Keep Up Resistance; U.S. Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Visits Refugee Center In Poland; Civilians Show Defiance In Cities Now Under Russian Control; Russia Passes Law Criminalizing "Fake News"; Foreign Students Among The Crowds Fleeing The War; Indian Students Trapped In Ukraine Ask To Be Evacuated; Putin Says Sanctions Are Equivalent Of Declaration Of War; U.S. Sees Biggest Gas Price Jump Since Hurricane Katrina. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 06, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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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 from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes here in Lviv, Ukraine, with the breaking news this hour.
And we're learning that much of the Ukrainian tank factory has been leveled after Russian strikes. This is about some 85 miles west of Kyiv. The area has seen intense shelling in recent days.
And a new video just coming in from the city of Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv. You see jets there, flying overhead. And then a massive explosion, with plumes of black smoke following -- billowing from the rubble there.
Needless to say the massive bombardment caused incredible damage, many buildings going up in flames. All of this as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges his people to keep up the resistance against the Russian onslaught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukrainians, in all our cities, where the enemy invaded, go on the offensive. Go out on the streets. We need to fight every time we have an opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now this comes as the temporary cease-fire in parts of Eastern Ukraine to let civilians get to safety is now on hold, after allegations Russian fighters violated the agreements of that cease- fire; Russia blames Ukraine.
And that Ukrainian resistance, indeed, being seen in actions, both by the civilian population and its military. CNN's Arlette Saenz with that.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, new images emerging from the battlefront, Ukrainian armed forces releasing this video of the moment they say they shot down a Russian helicopter, the fire-engulfed aircraft hurtling toward the ground.
Here, another Russian aircraft, a fighter jet, falls from the sky. The Ukrainian military says it took down the plane, smoke billowing in its wake as it crashed into a residential neighborhood about 90 miles from Kyiv.
The Ukrainian emergency services says these are the remains of the jet, bombs undetonated mere steps from homes, the scenes of war, a war Ukrainians continue to fight with limited help from Western allies.
In a Zoom call with U.S. lawmakers, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for greater military assistance, including the transfer of fighter jets from Eastern European countries and the establishment of a no-fly zone.
The U.S. and NATO still resisting such a move, warning, it could prompt a full-scale war in Europe.
REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ), MEMBER, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: A no-fly zone is a -- might just be a bridge too far and not one (INAUDIBLE) right now. A U.S. plane shooting down another Russian plane or vice versa is something that could really escalate to a nuclear war.
SAENZ (voice-over): Russian president Vladimir Putin declaring that any country or organization implementing a no-fly zone would be considered participants in the conflict.
And as Ukraine pushes for more sanctions, Putin stating the sanctions already imposed on his country are equivalent to a declaration of war against Russia.
On the ground in Ukraine, a show of solidarity from the U.S.; secretary of state Antony Blinken side-by-side with the Ukrainian foreign minister on the Polish border.
BLINKEN: As for the pressure on Russia, not only is it unprecedented, not only is it producing very, very concrete results in Russia but that pressure, too, will not only continue. It will grow until this war, this war of choice, is brought to an end.
SAENZ (voice-over): Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett today also speaking by phone with Zelenskyy, after a face-to-face meeting with Putin in Moscow.
Meanwhile, one senior Western intelligence official warns that Russia now seems prepared to bombard cities into submission, with the U.S. official saying Russia is poised to deploy 1,000 more mercenaries in the near future.
But with the war in its 10th day, stories of Ukrainian bravery in the face of Russian aggression continue to spread. Watch as a man jumps on top of a Russian armored vehicle, waving a Ukrainian flag.
And sounds of gunfire in a small town in northeastern Ukraine, as unarmed protesters stood their ground.
In this chilling video, a man in the front of the crowd appears to be shot in the street.
[02:05:00]
SAENZ (voice-over): Another video shows protesters scattering, as a barrage of gunfire rings out. Tonight, Ukraine's foreign minister with a new message for Putin.
DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Putin, leave Ukraine alone. You will not win this war.
SAENZ (voice-over): Arlette Saenz, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now the United Nations gravely concerned about the situation here in Ukraine and is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties, perhaps, unsurprisingly, seeing the munitions being dropped all over this country.
The U.N. says at least 331 civilians have been killed, 675 wounded, since Russia launched its invasion on February 24. And of that total, 19 Ukrainian children have been killed.
They also note the actual numbers are likely to be much higher than that. Many others rushing to get out of the country while they still can. CNN's Clarissa Ward was in Irpin, where many of the evacuees were visibly shaken, as they escaped their wartorn home for an uncertain future.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For seven days, the Kyiv suburb of Irpin has been pummeled by Russian strikes. And you can see it in the faces of those leaving, exhaustion, fear and gratitude to the soldiers helping them flee.
This bridge was downed by the Ukrainians to prevent Russian forces from getting into the city center. Now it's yet another hurdle people must cross.
WARD: There has been a steady barrage of artillery since we got here, just over an hour ago, and a never-ending stream of people, just desperately trying to cross to safety.
WARD (voice-over): Nataliya (ph) tells us she was injured just a couple of hours earlier.
"We tried to get some stuff out of our apartment and a shell or something hit and I got hit by shrapnel."
Still in shock, she dismisses the pain and walks away unaided. Others need more assistance. Soldiers carry a makeshift stretcher to ferry an elderly woman to safety.
President Putin has said his army is not targeting civilians. But the exodus from Irpin tells a different story. Everyone steps in where they can, including us. An elderly woman calls out for help, clearly confused by the chaotic situation. We take one of her bags.
WARD: So people are obviously incredibly affected by this situation. They're frightened, they're exhausted, they're on edge.
WARD (voice-over): They leave behind whatever they cannot carry, with no sense of when they will return.
A woman approaches, completely overcome.
WARD: She said, "I'm afraid."
WARD (voice-over): "For what," she cries, "for what?"
This is just one suburb in one city that has felt the wrath of Russia's onslaught, artillery, missiles and fighter jets.
"The planes were flying and I just covered my ears," Olga Kuglai (ph) tells us.
WARD: She's saying that now she doesn't even know where she's going to go next.
WARD (voice-over): She has lived in Irpin for 45 years.
"It was so beautiful and now it's destroyed.
"What are they trying to achieve?
"To bring us to our knees?"
But against all odds, 10 days into this war, Ukraine is still standing. A woman waits to be evacuated, trembling, resilient.
"We will overcome everything," she says.
For the people of Irpin, the journey is just beginning. They're loaded onto buses, to the train station. From there, they don't know where they will go -- Clarissa Ward, CNN, Irpin.
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HOLMES: All right, I want to bring in military analyst Peter Layton for some perspective on Russia's invasion of this country. He joins us now from Canberra in Australia.
Good to see you. I think a lot of people thought somehow Russia's was a formidable army that would overwhelm Ukraine in days.
What is your analysis of Russia's strength and planning and execution so far?
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PETER LAYTON, MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, certainly, all of us thought the modern Russian army, the modern Russian defense forces were 10 foot tall. So over the last 10 years, President Putin has invested significant money.
However, to a certain extent this is the wrong war in the wrong place with the wrong army. The Russian defense forces have this -- have this doctrine of how to overthrow governments. And I think they convinced themselves that Ukraine was a suitable target.
What they didn't realize was that Ukraine was a very strong country in an identity sense so that, since 2014, when the Russians first took Crimea, Ukraine has got stronger internally.
So rather than the Russian army turning up and, if you like, knocking on the door and taking over the country, almost with a bloodless coup, instead, the Ukrainians fought back and fought back hard. And then that sort of played to another modern Russian army weakness.
Sorry?
HOLMES: Yes, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Tell me what that is.
LAYTON: And the other modern Russian army weakness is that modern Russian army doctrine is not to invade other countries but is, in fact, a form of active defense. That is let opponents attack Russia just like Napoleon did and just like Hitler did and try and space the time, so they would do a fighting withdrawal.
So the modern Russian army doesn't have all the offensive systems necessary for a major military offensive into a well-defended country. So you've got the wrong army with the wrong doctrine. And the intelligence and the hubris of the Russian leadership was indeed staggering.
They got themselves in a bad situation. But Russian doctrine might tell us a little bit about where they'll go next.
HOLMES: You know, all great points. And the other thing I think that's significant is they seem to have gotten logistics terribly wrong -- resupply, how they move things around, what sort of things they need to move around.
I wanted to ask you, though, when it comes to leadership, Putin is not one to back down or even to be seen to be backing down.
Does that pose a threat if he is feeling cornered? His propensity in other conflicts to go scorched Earth, as U.S. and
NATO intelligence suggest, could be coming up here.
LAYTON: Yes. I think that that plays against those previous weaknesses that we -- that we spoke about. The Russian army's fighting, this is very heavy going. So they're likely to encircle the cities and inflict tremendous damage using artillery and bombing raids, rockets and missiles and these thermobaric weapons also called vacuum weapons.
That plays in a bit to the -- to the Russian liking of using firepower these days rather than manpower. And the Russian army has trouble finding people, of course, because, while they have conscription, you certainly need to train up soldiers first.
And you have a country of 44 million people, facing an invading army of 200,000. The whole thing doesn't sort of add up. But I know that, very early on, at the start of this, that president Putin says the aim was to demilitarize and denazify the Ukraine.
So it's possible that at this stage, realizing he cannot take over control of the country and, as you just said he's very stubborn and can't see very many ways out, that a campaign of mass destruction, if you like, would satisfy that means, that ambition of demilitarization.
He might feel, having reduced Ukraine to ashes, he could then leave.
HOLMES: Yes. In order to save the country, I will destroy the country, a variation on that old Vietnam saying.
You make great points. And after the taking of territory, of course, then needs to be the holding of territory. And as you mentioned, this is not going to be a pliant population.
Is that going to be a problem for the Russians?
LAYTON: I don't see how they could possibly hold the Ukraine. At best, from where they are at the moment, they may be able to keep what they have now and to treat them like the Donbas was, a frozen conflict for four years and years.
But against that, pretty much the whole world willing to supply Ukraine with money and arms. So I think that rather an insurgency, probably just a grumbling war, if you like.
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LAYTON: Bear in mind, when you talk occupation, there's something else that goes along with that. If the Russians occupy Ukraine, they have to start feeding the people. That's part -- that is part of an occupying power's duties.
Now feeding say 20 million or 30 million people in your newly occupied area would be a monumental battle. And as you said, the Russians have had a lot of trouble simply just supplying shells and fuel to their own soldiers. Their own soldiers have been going hungry and ransacking supermarket shelves.
So the whole thing looks like descending into craziness, if you like.
HOLMES: A terrific analysis. Love to continue this another time. We'll have to get you back. Peter Layton, thanks so much.
LAYTON: Thank you much for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, well, over a million refugees have now fled Ukraine, well over a million. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, how governments around the world are trying to help.
Also UNICEF says time is running out for the children of Ukraine. We'll have details on the agency's humanitarian warning coming up.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
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HOLMES: The humanitarian crisis growing in Ukraine, waves of people trying to escape Russia's invasion. At a train station in Lviv, people braving freezing temperatures in hopes of making it to safety in a neighboring country. And governments around the world stepping up to offer them help. CNN's Ivan Watson with more from Moldova.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are the world's newest refugees, Ukrainians fleeing en masse from the Russian invasion of their country.
The United Nations says more than 1.3 million Ukrainians have crossed the country's borders in the last 1.5 weeks, more than half of them traveling to neighboring Poland. And that's where the U.S. secretary of state was on Saturday, trying to send a message of support to some refugees that he met with on the border.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What 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.
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WATSON (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians have come to other neighboring countries. And we have recently traveled through Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and now Moldova.
And everywhere in the border regions, you can see Ukrainians on the move. They're almost always women with children; they're in the train stations, in airports; sleeping on the floor, in hotels, in guest houses.
The populations of these neighboring countries have largely opened their arms to the displaced Ukrainians; the governments, as well, providing free transport, warmth, food, even donated toys to give some sense of normalcy to the children.
WATSON: Here in Moldova, there is an extra sense of vulnerability to this new conflict, because Moldova, the government, it shut down its airspace on the first day of the Russian invasion, fearing that civilian aviation could be somehow damaged by the conflict.
And there is no real air access in and out of this former Soviet republic. So Ukrainians are largely traveling through Moldova to neighboring Romania. There are backups at the border.
And some Moldovans, who are spooked by the conflict, have also started to move away from here, clearly nervous that their country could become the next target of the Russian military -- Ivan Watson, CNN.
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HOLMES: Now in an alarming new warning, the U.N. Children's Fund telling CNN that time is running out for Ukrainian children to escape. A spokesperson for UNICEF says humanitarian access is becoming a matter of life and death and the situation worsens with every passing moment.
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JAMES ELDER, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Yes, absolutely. And it's already run out for those children who have been killed in these bombardments.
You know, getting that humanitarian access in is fundamentally critical. But opening up those corridors, so those people can leave, the people you've seen, your viewers have seen, mothers and children, fundamentally have to leave.
I mean, they do everything they can, as you know, moms, to keep a child safe. But talking to moms who spent nights lying on top of the children, not just to keep them warm, because they think that's an extra layer of protection in this madness, they have to be given safe passage out of there.
But of course, for all those others who can't leave, the conflict has to stop. The missiles have to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Organizations around the world and on the ground here in Ukraine are trying to help those who need food, shelter, water and other assistance. For more information about how you can help if you wish, head to cnn.com/impact.
And our breaking news coverage continues right here on CNN. After the break, scenes of defiant resistance as Russian troops push further into Ukraine. That's coming up.
Also countries around the world lashing out at Moscow's latest efforts to bully the media and silence dissent. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says that Ukrainian nuclear officials are in contact with staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after it was seized by Russian troops on Friday. This coming as the Russian military strikes leveled part of a Ukrainian tank factory. This is just outside the city of Zhytomyr.
The video published on social media on Saturday showing the damage there. You can see for yourself.
And another video captured by Reuters, showing several fires in and around the city of Irpin near the capital of Kyiv. Artillery and airstrikes causing extensive damage to buildings, roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say thousands of civilians are still trapped in the southeastern cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha after Russia breached a temporary cease-fire agreement. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked again for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy commending those who stand up to Russian forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They scream at occupants to go home, like the Russian battleship, pushing the occupants out of our territory. Block their way. Every meter of our Ukrainian land reclaimed by protests is step forward, a step toward victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Russian advances on Ukraine's Black Sea coast are being met with defiance by many civilians but fears are growing that, at any moment, Russia could intensify those attacks. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports -- and we must warn you, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Significant developments along the Black Sea coast where I'm standing now, specifically to the east in Kherson. That is a city Russia first claimed it had control of. But it didn't look like the case today, when we saw significant numbers of protesters on the street, demanding that the Russians leave.
[02:30:00]
WALSH: Now this is important because we had imagined, according to Ukrainian official statements, we might see some sort of bid by Russia to create a synthetic counter narrative, where they'll get locals out on the streets to support their presence and provide them with aid.
Instead today, we've seen a large number of locals, coming out and asking the Russians to not be there. That's difficult, frankly, for Moscow going forward, because they had, it seemed, believed that they would be able to encourage locals to be on their side when they moved in.
A very different story in Mykolayiv, the next port city to the west. We were there today. We spoke to the regional head and he said they didn't need anything, apart -- from the West apart from weapons.
They want to continue to fight and they felt very convinced that, despite the fact they were facing a Russian force that was technically superior, they had better motivation and they would never let those forces take the important bridges in that city.
All the same, though, civilian casualties very visible for us at a nearby hospital. The elderly, it seemed, brought in, a lot of them with head injuries, the result of some shelling that had hit part of the civilian areas there.
Just part of the clear evidence we see all the time that Russia's promise it's not targeting civilians is essentially nonsense.
And still here in Odessa, the broad widening fear that all this military activity along the Black Sea coast by Russia is essentially going to lead to pressure in Odessa, which results in some sort of broad military move against this, the third largest city in Ukraine and the most important port that it has.
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HOLMES: All right, let's bring in Irina Kuznetsova. She emigrated from Russia to the U.K. in 2014 and is now an associate professor at the University of Birmingham in England.
Thanks for being with us. I wanted to speak to you because you write so eloquently in "The New York Times" about how, as a Russian, as you put it, this war is not in my name. Putin stole your language to make a false case for war.
How important was it for you, as a Russian, to publicly and forcefully make that point? IRINA KUZNETSOVA, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Thanks, Michael, for inviting me. I (INAUDIBLE) and I had to say that this word is not in my name and this word is not in the name of many Russians.
And also as an academic, I have seen for 10 last years the rise of (INAUDIBLE) and nationalism in Russia. And this innovation (ph), this aggression, this heartless aggression is a (INAUDIBLE) Putin's nationality and I hope that it will be (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: Yes. As you know, more than anyone, the problem inside Russia is, because of the state media stranglehold on the narrative, most Russians don't even know what's going on, not fully.
Can you see that changing, though?
Do you hear of word spreading?
KUZNETSOVA: The word is spreading. So people use alternative social media and alternative sources of information to know what's going on. And also many Russians have relatives and friends in Ukraine, who send them videos and who tell them what is going on the ground.
So and as you know many people protest. Over 8,000 Russians have been detained because of protests and now it's become very dangerous because people could be sent to prison for several years for that.
Some people maybe still don't understand what's going on and they repeat after Putin, that they left us no choice. And some people still try to distance themselves and avoid talking the politics and trying just to stick on essentials.
HOLMES: You also said in that piece, and quoting you now, "Step by step we've seen the denial and attempted erasure of historical truths."
How do Russians fight back, push back on the distortions and lies?
KUZNETSOVA: It's really very difficult at this moment since (INAUDIBLE) organization for show the truth about (INAUDIBLE) have been liquidated by Russia. So it's very difficult to operate in the situation when the freedom of oppression is -- expression is found in Russia. It's very difficult. So much disinformation, misinformation is spread.
HOLMES: You're not in Russia but you do go there and, you know, people who speak against the Kremlin often face consequences.
Do you worry about yourself when you go back, being vocal as you are?
KUZNETSOVA: I worry about it.
[02:35:00]
KUZNETSOVA: So I -- never than ever I felt -- I'm feeling so far from Russia. So I really feel it as an immigrant now. I don't know when I'll be able to come back. And also many Russians try to leave the country by Central Asia, by Baltic States because they worry about their future.
HOLMES: There's been a lot of talk about Vladimir Putin's state of mind; he's perhaps paranoid, he's isolated.
What is your feeling?
The way he rules, would there be anyone in the Kremlin, in the inner circle, who could or would dare say no to him, that, Mr. President, this is a bad idea?
KUZNETSOVA: I'm not a political scientist so I don't know what to say about that. I study the experiences of ordinary people. And I know that, as long he stays, as, you know, as much disaster we'll see in Ukraine, in Russia and in Europe. And it's a danger for democracy around all the globe as well.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. That's a really good point. This could be -- in fact, likely will be -- a long and costly war for Russia on more than one front. And sort of suppressing the will of the Ukrainian people is going to be pretty much impossible.
When do the costs at home in Russia, the effects of those sanctions on ordinary Russians, when might that get to the point where, you know, people might rise up or become more coordinated in their opposition, where Putin's position might be threatened?
KUZNETSOVA: You can see already protests (INAUDIBLE) have been suspended because of what started. So I think that we will see it worse than it was in the beginning (INAUDIBLE) '90s.
But I just --
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HOLMES: Yes -- yes, finish your thought. Sorry.
KUZNETSOVA: Yes. I just wanted to say, I know that in Ukraine it's a moment and I worked (INAUDIBLE) university and just want to say that we started this displacement from 2014. And over 1.5 million people have been displaced in Ukraine.
And seeing the excellent humanitarian response from here and from the United States, I just want everyone to remember that this war will have a lot of long-term impact on families and people, who have been displaced internally and internationally from Ukraine.
And then we have seen that xenophobia was rising in many parts of Europe and I hope this moment of solidarity and unity will reset the attitudes toward migrants and refugees across the globe.
HOLMES: Yes, a powerful message. I'm glad we were able to speak. Irina Kuznetsova, thanks so much.
And you can check out her op-ed in "The New York Times."
Thank you very much. KUZNETSOVA: Thank you very much, Michael.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, quick break. When we come back, fighting continues in Ukraine and many people desperate, of course, to evacuate, including foreign students, trying to get back to their home countries. We'll have details on that after the break.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello. I'm Kim Brunhuber, live at CNN Center in Atlanta.
The United Nations says more than 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion and include many foreign students, who are now trying to figure out how to get home.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very happy to be back home. Thank you, Nigeria.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): These are the lucky ones. Nigerian evacuees, many of them students, arriving back home after being stranded in Ukraine.
Countries around the world are now facing the difficult task of evacuating their citizens from a war zone. But many students and foreign nationals in Ukraine have already made the terrifying choice to leave on their own, joining the mass scramble of Ukrainians on trains, taxis, buses and often on foot, heading to Ukraine's borders to escape the violence.
From there, several countries are coordinating flights out of the region. This relieved student says it was an exhausting journey. But crossing into Romania was the hardest part.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bus couldn't get to the border because of the lines that were queued up. So we had to get out and walk for about two hours to get to the border with our bags. And then (INAUDIBLE) we had to stand about 14 hours in the cold, waiting for them to open the gate.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Many students said they stayed as long as they could, some in underground bunkers, until conditions on the ground finally forced them to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were a lot of heavy artillery, missiles, bombs all over (ph). We just had to leave because we couldn't stay there. No one could stay there. It was really dangerous.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Bear hugs and tears greet these evacuees in Ecuador. Relatives say it's been a long and anxious wait for this plane, carrying many students, to arrive in Quito. One uncle says his nephew told him that bombs were falling and the family was afraid they would never see him again.
The perils of the journey made worse by alleged racial discrimination at the border. Some students from Africa and Asia say they were forced to wait or were turned away at checkpoints while Ukrainians were allowed to pass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mostly they would consider white people first, white people first, Indian people or Arabic (ph) people, before Black people.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Ukraine's foreign ministry denied the allegations on Twitter, saying it's a first-come, first-served approach at the border and the Ukrainian government has, in the past week, helped 130,000 foreigners leave the country.
At least one Moroccan student says he's delaying his trip home, choosing instead to stay at the Romanian border and help others, just like those who helped him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not a Ukrainian and I decided here to help and, you know, show people kindness. Everybody needs to help. Everybody. We need to coordinate. This is the message.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Students from India are asking to be rescued after getting stranded in Ukraine. They're trapped in a city about 50 kilometers from the Russian border. And they say food is starting to get scarce and water, electricity and heat being out.
So why can't they get out and what's being done to help them?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an area that's seeing a lot of attacks, bombings and shelling. So this city, Sumy, is where we have about 700 Indian nationals, Indian students that study at the universities. They're currently hunkering down in bunkers every time the siren goes off.
Now as far as the Indian officials are concerned, they did address a press conference on the situation in Ukraine and their evacuation program that's been going on for a while.
[02:45:00]
SUD: According to the Indian officials who are addressing the press conference, more than 20,000 Indians have crossed out of Ukraine ever since they issued the first advisory.
I'm talking about the Indian embassy here issuing that first advisory a couple weeks back. These students are in their hostels. They cannot move out. They fear an attack and the Indian government has asked them to stay inside and not move out.
On Saturday a dozen or more students came out their hostel and they stood outside and they recorded a video, where they said they're desperate to move out, they fear for their lives and if the Indian government does not evacuate them in the coming hours, they're weighing the option of walking to the Russian border.
Let's listen in to what these students had to say.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the last video from the Sumy State University students and we are just risking our life and we are just going to this border which Russia has offered so this will be our last request and last video, guys. Just pray for us.
And government, please let you guys know that we are moving from our own risk. This is our last video.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUD: According to the Indian government, they cannot pull these students out just yet because of the situation around. They're reaching out to the Russian authorities as well as Ukrainian authorities over and over again, through multiple channels, to ask for a local cease-fire so they can pull out these students.
Like I said at the beginning of this conversation with you, over 20,000 Indians have already moved out from the Ukrainian borders. And now the focus is on the city for the Indian authorities. It's a matter of time, is what they're saying. They're waiting for the situation to get a bit better before their next move, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, let's hope they can get out. Vedika Sud, thanks so much.
Well, there are growing concerns for U.S. basketball star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner after "The New York Times" reported she was arrested in Moscow.
Russian customs officials said they found cannabis oil in her luggage. The report said that drug-sniffing dogs detected the possible presence of narcotics in her carry-on baggage.
Economic pressure versus military action. We'll look at why the Russian president believes those two are one in the same, at least when it comes to sanctions against Russia. That's next.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. I'm Michael Holmes live from Lviv in Ukraine.
It is not unusual for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to lambast countries opposed to his war in Ukraine. But on Saturday, he took that to a whole new level, equating their sanctions against Russia with a military action. Have a listen.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): Much of what is happening and what we are seeing right now is, of course, a way of fighting Russia and the sanctions being introduced. They are equivalent to a declaration of war now. Thank God this hasn't happened yet.
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HOLMES: But why does Putin believe that economic penalties equal war?
Susan Glasser, who wrote a book about Russia under Putin, explained it this way.
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SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: These economic sanctions are devastating. They are the equivalent of blowing up the Russian economy in ways that will have catastrophic impacts -- and already are -- in that society. And so, you know, in many ways it is tantamount to war.
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HOLMES: Credit card companies, Visa and MasterCard, say they're suspending all operations and transactions in Russia, both companies citing the invasion of Ukraine as the reason.
They say cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by their networks and cards issued outside the country won't work at Russian merchants or ATMs.
And major oil companies are feeling the economic pressure, both in Russia and beyond. Russia's second-largest oil firm, Lukoil, is breaking ranks with President Putin and calling for an end of the war.
Lukoil produces more than 2 percent of the world's crude oil and employs more than 100,000 people.
While Shell is under fire after buying a cargo of crude oil from Russia at a significant discount, a decision that was slammed by Ukraine's foreign minister, Shell says it was bound to make the purchase under a previous contract. The company has now pledged to work with humanitarian agencies and donate profits to those affected by the conflict.
The pressure on the oil industry is leading to soaring fuel prices in the U.S. and elsewhere. Americans seeing the largest price hikes since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005. One analyst says the cost of a gallon of gas is now out of control. CNN's Camila Bernal reports from Los Angeles.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These prices just continue to go up and we're just cents away from that national average being $4 a gallon. Experts believe we could get there just in the next couple of days, because of the increases that we have already been seeing.
Here in California, the average already above $5 a gallon. In Los Angeles, there are some gas stations where the situation is even worse.
At the gas station where I am right now, a regular gallon of gas is $6.95; for that premium, $7.55.
And as this crisis in Ukraine continues, it could continue to increase. Ever since the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, we've seen those prices go up by 37 cents just in the last two days. We've seen a 19-cent increase.
So that's what people are worried about because this is obviously affecting everyday Americans. For example, rideshare drivers, they are greatly impacted. I spoke to one of them.
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BERNAL: Benjamin Valdez (ph) says he works three days a week and this increase in prices for him makes a huge difference.
BENJAMIN VALDEZ (PH), RIDESHARE DRIVER: I was putting in probably around $60 for a full tank. And now it's climbed up to about $90. So it's getting up there.
If I drive 200 miles, I'm spending $50 in gas. And if I make $150 to $200 that night, I'm putting at least one-third of expense in gas alone.
BERNAL: It's not just him. I talked to many rideshare drivers, who told me other drivers they know have been quitting over the last couple of months and they say this is the final straw.
But it's not just the rideshare drivers; it's the taxi drivers, the truckers and everyday Americans. Anyone who gets in a car, who has a commute will notice the difference and, unfortunately, the situation could get worse -- Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
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HOLMES: On the Ukrainian-Polish border, a musical interlude to try to forget the sounds of war, if only for a few moments.
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HOLMES (voice-over): A woman in front of the Lviv train station, serenading heartsick Ukrainian refugees with the ironically named Louis Armstrong tune, "What a Wonderful World."
On the other side of the border in Poland, a traveling piano man, Davide Martello, from Italy, also greeting weary travelers with songs, some people even playing along with him.
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HOLMES: Thanks for watching, everyone, and spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. I will be back with you after a short break.
