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Millions of Refugees Fleeing Ukraine Since Russian Invasion; Patriarch Kirill of Moscow Alleges Homosexuality Part of Reason for Russian Invasion to Ukraine; Released Photo of Detained WNBA, Britney Griner, in Russia; What Letter "Z" Insignia of Russia Means; Interview with Chris Skopec, Executive Vice President of Global Health at Project HOPE; "Don't Say Gay" Bill Passed by Florida State Senate; McDonald's Temporarily Closing in Russia. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 08, 2022 - 15:30:00   ET

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

[03:30:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Chris Skopec is the Executive Vice President of Global Health at Project HOPE. He joins us now from Poland.

Chris, I mean, just the size and the speed with which people have come there, it's really incredible. How are the folks who have left Ukraine that are now in Poland, how are they being absorbed?

CHRIS SKOPEC, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HEALTH AT PROJECT HOPE: Well, that's the real question there, Anderson. Thank you for having me, first of all.

I was just down at the border this afternoon. The numbers are just staggering. They're coming in hundreds of thousands at this point. We've seen two million in 10 days. We've never seen anything like this. I, personally, haven't. There's been a tremendous outpouring of support from the Polish government, from the Polish people, from civil society here in Poland. They're helping them get access to shelter, to clothes, to food. But keeping up with the number of people coming across the border, being able to track where they're going. The kind of support that they need. The help that's going to be required. And really addressing critical issues around refugee protection, that's really what we're faced with right now.

COOPER: And many of the people who have come to Poland, they're not staying at the border, obviously. We're seeing a number of organizations which have been responding. What -- talk about what Project HOPE is doing.

SKOPEC: So, our focus really is on immediate right now relief and support, specifically through health and medical care. As we know, the situation inside Ukraine is such that the primary health care system has been devastated. Hospitals are completely out of supplies in many cases and just desperate for more support. And people are coming after days and days of trying to travel and get into a refugee country -- a hosting country. So, they're coming across. They're -- we're seeing exhaustion, dehydration, gastrointestinal issues and certainly a lot of emotional and traumatic issues just in how they are being able to cope with what's happening.

So, the ability to get us, you know, medical care immediately as a matter of priority. Screen them for -- try to understand what kind of support and assistance they need. Being able to listen and help them through with understanding and navigating where to go for assistance, that's really what our top priority is right now. And we're seeing a lot of great support here in Poland itself. But again, we just -- it's just an avalanche of numbers that we're seeing and we're trying to do our best to keep up.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, there's some 40 million people in Ukraine, the -- with this crisis growing daily. I know the EU is now bracing, they'll save for as many as five million refugees in the coming weeks as the war -- assuming the war drags on. I mean, how does that number of people get absorbed? It's got to be more than just Poland. Obviously, we're seeing people in Romania as well. Some coming into Moldova. Although Moldova seems, you know, to be trying to move as many of those people into Romania as quickly as possible just to -- because they're overwhelmed. How do you cope with five million people in a couple of weeks?

SKOPEC: Well, what I've been seeing, really, with the Ukrainians I'm speaking to is they're voting by their feet. They do have the option through trains and buses that are -- with tickets that are being provided for tree to travel to different countries across the continent. And there's -- you know what else we're seeing, is there's a huge number of people coming from around Poland. Individuals out of their, you know, the goodness of their heart. Hoping to try to be able to help out and provide people with rides, homes to stay in, temporary shelters so that they've got a place to go.

So, really people are moving as quickly as they can through the border areas. Getting into major cities like Krakow, where I am right now. And then from there, trying to identify where the best place to go is. I met a woman today, right at the border, a Ukrainian woman who, at one hand, was laughing at how ridiculous it was that she was getting on the first bus she could find to a city she'd never heard of in Germany. And then the next second, turns around and is just weeping at the fact that she had to leave behind her two sons and her husband and was all alone by herself and had no idea what she was going to do and where she was going to go.

COOPER: Yes. It's heartbreaking. Chris Skopec, I appreciate your work. Thank you. With Project HOPE.

Alisyn and Victor, we're seeing -- we hear these stories all the time, you know. I was at the train station today in Lviv and it's still just overwhelming to see this amount of people moving desperate to get on these trains.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Yes, Anderson. I mean, tell us a little bit a more about that. Because, obviously, the choices that people are having to make. I mean, as we just heard, the woman deciding -- COOPER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- is she going to save herself or is she going to stay with her family.

COOPER: Yes. This is a video of a man I spoke to who broke down crying. He has left Kharkiv where he lives with his wife and child.

[03:35:00]

There was bombing near their home and they just fled with a couple of bags. I mean, they just quickly packed and just took off, got on the quickest train they could. There was more bombing. They had to get off that train. They finally got to the Lviv train station. Today, they are exhausted. He is completely stressed out, as you saw him weeping there. He is now saying goodbye. Tomorrow, they're going to sleep here overnight in the train station and then they're -- he's going to put his wife and daughter onto a train. And he is going to return, most likely, to the fight. And obviously men his age can't leave the country and most are fighting.

But a lot of men want to come and just see their families off to make sure that they get on a train so they at least know that their loved ones are safe.

CAMEROTA: Right. But having to say goodbye to that little Cherubic face that you're showing us there, is just devastating. And so -- I mean, every single family, we're just seeing so many of these stories. Anderson, thank you.

We'll check back. For more information on how you can help the people of Ukraine go to cnn.com/impact.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Well, Vladmir Putin has given a litany of outrageous reasons for invading a sovereign nation. But the leader of the Russian orthodox church just added a new one. Gay pride parades. More on the messaging coming from inside Russia, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

CAMEROTA: Russian State TV aired this image of U.S. basketball player, Britney Griner, last night. You can see her holding up a sign with her name on it. This was reportedly taken at police station after she was arrested last month in Russia. Where Griner is now and the exact date she was detained have not been made public.

BLACKWELL: Griner supporters now fear for her well-being and worry. She may become a political pawn in the war in Ukraine. Let's bring in Bianna Golodryga, CNN's Senior Global Affairs Analyst. It's hard to imagine that she would not be, now at this point, considering the sanctions that continue to flood in from the U.S.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And It's typical. It's Russia's M.O., right? Soviet Union's M.O. as well to hold a Westerner in prison there for trumped up chargers. Obviously, this is related to marijuana, whatever they ended up finding on her. And this is why you're seeing so many corporations and Americans that are living in Russia now being told to leave the country. And perhaps it's even too late, at this point, for fear of this very exact thing. That their employees, their loved ones, even if their residents and citizens of other countries could get detained.

CAMEROTA: She's gay and that leads to this next development, and that is that the leader of the Russian orthodox church has said in his sermons, I think, that this is a choice basically between God's will and gay rights. And at this war that we're seeing is in part about gay rights. And, I mean, basically it's a violent culture war.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. This -- you're talking about Patriarch Kirill of Moscow who has been a fervent supporter of Vladimir Putin's as well. And has, sort of, walked the same talking points in the line that Vladimir Putin has dispelled that there's moral depravity in West, right. And you look at countries like the United States and the supporters of homosexuality and movements there. Similar to what is playing out in Ukraine. Ukraine has also been a supporter of openly of gay rights and in gay pride parades in the country there.

So, I -- this is no surprise, given that he is sort of spewing the same talking points as Vladimir Putin. What's notable is that while he's saying that this war is just and called for, look at what the pope himself is saying which is quite the opposite.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about this letter Z that's been adopted by people who are supporting the war effort. It's on this train. It's on some vehicles. There's actually a Russian gymnast who had it on his leotard at the world cup in Doha while he was standing next to a Ukrainian gymnast. What --

GOLODRYGA: Just quite grotesque.

BLACKWELL: -- do we know what this means?

GOLODRYGA: Yes, there's the Russian gymnast who was supported by his coaches for wearing that insignia. Obviously, those organizers of that event did not support that and condemned it as well. We should know the Ukrainian won gold and he won bronze there. This has turned into a rallying cry among Russians supporting this war within Kremlin. A propaganda of sorts. I believe that it began as just insignia of Russian military operation and equipment as you see there.

CAMEROTA: But why a Z?

GOLODRYGA: And it's metastasized into a Z. So, there've been a lot of theories about what Z stands for. And the latest that I've read, that's plausible, perhaps, came from the Russian military spokesperson who said that it stands for "Za" which is "For" in Russia, means for in Russia and that's signifying that they're for the war. They support the war.

CAMEROTA: But also, I just want to point out, Z stands for Zelenskyy.

GOLODRYGA: Of course.

CAMEROTA: I don't know if this is the best symbol for them, for Russian war, but it is haunting to see that symbol. I think it, you know, I think it conjures other symbols and to see a train rolling in with that symbol on it is, I think, chilling.

GOLODRYGA: Especially many comparing it to the Nazis, right, and their insignia and the Swastika. And given Russia's history, the Soviet Union's history, with the Nazis that we would see them. Now, many supporters of this war, the Kremlin spokesperson, people that work at RT wearing this. It's really is quite disturbing.

BLACKWELL: Bianna Golodryga, thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Sure.

[03:45:00]

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

Back here in the U.S., there's -- some might say, an eerie parallel. Florida State Senate just passed the, so called, Don't Say Gay bill. It bans certain instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in school classrooms. We have an update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Trans lives matter. Trans lives matter. Trans lives matter. Trans lives matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: In Florida, high school students sent that message to State lawmakers. They were chanting there, "Gay lives matter". But this morning, Florida Senate passed the bill the critics have dubbed, "Don't Say Gay." The vote it was 22-17. It passed earlier by the House -- it was passed earlier by the House, I should say, now goes to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be signed into law. He says that he supports it.

CAMEROTA: So, protests were held across the State. And opposition to the bill often turned emotional. Yesterday, DeSantis snapped at a reporter for using the words, "Don't Say Gay" when describing the bill during a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Does it say that in the bill?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking --

DESANTIS: I'm asking you to tell me what's in the bill because you are pushing false narratives. It doesn't matter what critics say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. It says, it bans classroom instruction on sexual identity and gender orientation.

DESANTIS: For who?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For --

DESANTIS: For grades pre-K through three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you --

DESANTIS: So, five-year-old, six-year-old, seven-year-olds. And we're going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's bring in CNN'S Steve Contorno. So, Steve, as I understand it, this bill is vague. So, what exactly does it outlaw?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Alisyn, the bill makes it illegal to have classroom instruction around sexual orientation or gender identity in grades kindergarten through third grade or in ways that may not be age appropriate for all other grades. And this is a -- has been a sticking point between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans have said over and over again, this bill does not prohibit people from saying the word gay. And Democrats are saying, you are stigmatizing people.

And then last night, there was somewhat of a stunning admission by the bill's sponsor during one of the late hours of debate, he all but acknowledged that he believes there is a trend of kids who are, "Experimenting with their gender identity and their sexual orientation." And that he actually hopes that this legislation might curb that and would no longer encourage that behavior in schools. Democrats call this, a homophobic position. And it all came during a very emotional day of debates, including from one the body's own, Senator Shevrin Jones. He is the only openly gay member of the Senate. And he shared his own experience with his colleagues, having this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE SEN. SHEVRIN JONES (D-FL): I never knew that living my truth would cause church members to leave my dad's church, or friends to stop talking to me, or families to make jokes about who you are. So, I ask you all, whatever this bill is supposed to do, let that bill do it. Let's do that. But like the Hippocratic Oath says, please, do no harm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, Senator Jones, as emotional as he got, was unable to persuade his colleagues. They ultimately voted this morning to pass the legislation. As you said, it goes to the governor's desk and he has indicated he supports it. Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: We'll have to see how this is implemented in classrooms. For some -- so many young LGBTQ students, home is not a safe place. And now that school can't be a safe place, we'll see if this impacts that.

Steve Contorno, thank you.

All right. Some civilians managed to escape the fighting in Ukraine today but many more are still there. Meanwhile, why the invasion is not going as Vladimir Putin planned. The latest is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:55:00]

CAMEROTA: McDonald's just announced it will temporarily close all of its locations in Russia. That's nearly 850 McDonald's.

BLACKWELL: The company's CEO said that, our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine. And this is another example of just how the people of Russia are being impacted by these. We don't know how many they're impacting Putin but everyday people are being hit by these.

I want to share this touching performance by a Ukrainian violinist who was playing in a bomb shelter in Kharkiv.

CAMEROTA: My gosh. There's so much that's evocative about that song and this image and her in her long black evening gown there. She posted this video on Instagram. And she wrote that it's a song that her grandmother used to sing at family gatherings.