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Russian Attack Hits Small Residential Neighborhood; Ukrainians Race To Escape Russian Assault In Irpin; U.N.: More Than 1.7 Million People Have Fled Ukraine; UNICEF: Humanitarian Supplies Nowhere Near Enough; Women Pack Supplies, Make Camouflage For Ukraine's Defenders; South Korea Presidential Election Nears Amid International Conflicts. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 08, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:26]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine. Now in about an hour, we could see a ceasefire take hold in five Ukrainian cities. We will be watching very closely to see what if anything happens. But this ceasefire was proposed by Russia, there is no indication whether either side will abide by it.
Now on Monday, the Pentagon announcing that nearly all of the Russian forces once amassed outside Ukraine are now inside this country. You can see there the red strike areas where Russian troops are present mostly in the Northeast and the south.
The Ukrainian military digging in this artillery unit firing at Russian forces north of Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that giant Russian convoy outside the capital is still stalled in place. And a senior U.S. defense official says Russia is now trying to beef up its forces with foreign fighters. CNN previously reported that Moscow was poised to deploy 1,000 more mercenaries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We do believe as I said to Jim that they are having morale problems. They are having supply problems. They are having fuel problems. They are having food problems. They are meeting a very stiff and determined Ukrainian resistance. And we still maintain that they are several days behind what they probably thought they were going to be in terms of their progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. also increasing its deployment to the region and additional 500 American troops are headed to NATO member states, Germany, Poland, Romania and Greece. The U.S. has also been trying to reassure NATO's nervous members in the Baltics that the U.S. will defend them. This hour, the top U.S. diplomat is actually scheduled to leave Latvia and head to neighboring Estonia. Anthony Blinken warning that the situation in Ukraine could get much worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The terrible expectation is that the suffering we've already seen is is likely to get worse before it gets better for as long as Russia pursues these methods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hundreds of thousands of civilians looking for a way to escape the barrage of Russian attacks, but for now trapped. The Kremlin's offer of humanitarian corridors leading to Russia or Belarus were immediately condemned by Ukrainians. And while Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, the scenes on the ground would contradict that claim. Matthew Chance with that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Clearing up the broken debris of a shattered home. This is the devastation caused by a Russian attack on a residential neighborhood in a small Ukrainian (INAUDIBLE). Bila Tserkva 50 miles south of the Ukrainian capital is nowhere near the frontlines, but it has felt the rage and the pain of this war.
(on-camera): All right, well, we've come inside one of the houses that was affected by what was apparently random artillery or rocket fire into this residential neighborhood. And you can see it's just shattered the lives of the family here. We're -- look, I mean, the windows have all been blown out obviously. All their belongings have been left behind as they've gone into hiding.
The picture out there seems to for the people who live in here. It was a family with some children. Apparently, they've survived this, which is good. But, of course, when you look at the situation and the way that Russians have been shelling residential areas across the country, so many people haven't survived.
This is interesting. Come have a look. You can see it's the children's bedroom. You can see over here, look, the bunk beds, the roof that's fallen down onto the top of them when that shell hit. And of course, in the panics (ph) and in the evacuation, the kids have left all their toys up there, you know.
And it just shows you that no matter where you are in this country, with Russia attacking towns and cities across it, you know, lives have been shattered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
[01:05:09]
CHANCE (voice-over): Statis Slav (ph) is a close friend of the family who were nearly killed in their beds here. Godfather to the three children escaped with their lives. Now, he has one request, he tells me, for the United States. Please close the skies over Ukraine, he begs. If we can just contact NATO and ask them this, everything will be fine. Otherwise, he warns Putin will cross Ukraine and threatened the whole of Europe.
In a bunker under the town, it's terrified children. They're singing Ukraine's national anthem. It keeps them calm. As Russia invades a whole generation of Ukrainians is being united by this war, together as they shelter from the horrors above.
Matthew Chance, CNN, in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, we're showing you now live pictures coming to us. This is on the Ukraine-Poland border. And you can see people wandering across that border with whatever bags they can carry. Now the U.N. says more than 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine for other countries since Russia invaded. A million of them have gone to Poland.
Now here in Latvia, the mayor of the city says that Lviv has reached its capacity to deal with the migrant influx, food and medical supplies running short because so many of the people fleeing the country come through here on their way further the west to places like Poland. As we said, Poland has taken in the most refugees by far well over a million.
And the European Union's foreign policy chief says that number could swell to 5 million in total if the fighting continues the way it is. Meanwhile, Russia proposing evacuation corridors as we said leading out of five besieged cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol. But Ukraine rejecting that idea given Moscow's track record and also the fact that the routes lead only to Russia and Belarus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): There was an agreement on green corridors, has it worked? What worked instead was Russian tanks, Russian minds. They even mind the road that was agreed would be used to bring in food, medicines for children and for the people of Mariupol. They've been destroyed buses that are meant to evacuate people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now so many Ukrainians are facing a dangerous and desperate scramble to flee the Russian assault, leaving behind loved ones and their country for an uncertain future. That unimaginable heartbreak witnessed on the streets of Irpin.
Rohit Kachroo was there, he's with ITV News. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROHIT KACHROO, NEWS REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): To cross the river is perilous. To not cross it is far more so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
KACHROO (voice-over): This is the escape from Irpin, where the lucky leave alive. As the sound of shelling moved closer --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
KACHROO (voice-over): -- not everyone had the good fortune to be able to run.
This was hardly a dash to safety but it was no less desperate. An elderly woman struggling to keep up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
KACHROO (voice-over): Other evacuees streaming past as she inched towards safety.
(on-camera): What was -- tell me what last night was like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It was hell, it was scary and it was hell. Super hell.
KACHROO (voice-over): Then we spot another group emerging from underneath the broken bridge. Some have left with few possessions from long and settled lives. But if this looks like agony, imagine those they left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I panicked a lot, especially at night. But these sounds as you're going to hear now is not comparing to that -- to the struggling this night because it was light and warming and the whole building is shaking and we had to hide in the doorway like throughout the night.
KACHROO (voice-over): They've now reached the end of one road. The start of another.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Stay closer to me my sunshines, please.
[01:10:06]
KACHROO (on-camera): Where are you going, man?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Kyiv railway station.
KACHROO (on-camera): And where are you going after that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After -- I -- my family go to East, I go to war.
KACHROO (on-camera): You're going to war?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's my land. KACHROO (voice-over): Then another evacuee arrives with news from the town beyond Irpin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
KACHROO (voice-over): It's done for, he says. Everyone has been killed. A moment to reflect does nothing to help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
KACHROO (voice-over): The next stop is towards Kyiv along the same route Russian troops want to take.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We are going to the train station. That's all we know. We are just fleeing, we'll go wherever we can. It's not organized.
KACHROO (voice-over): We're invited into one of the tower blocks in the path of Russia's advance where, for now, some refused to go anywhere.
(on-camera): So why doesn't she leave and get on one of those buses outside?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I don't know. I don't have an answer for that.
KACHROO (voice-over): At Kyiv's central train station, those who did leave up in had taken west, as far as they can go. One man tells us he was hit by Russian bullets on his way here.
(on-camera): Who shot you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Russian soldiers. I saw their vehicles with the letter "V" on them.
KACHROO (voice-over): Across the waiting room, he spots his wife. They'll travel to Lviv together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I think we've been very lucky. It's like another birthday.
KACHROO (voice-over): They're not alone in making a journey which would have seemed unthinkable 10 days ago and escaped from shootings and shrapnel, means an escape from home.
All this is the painful consequence of the decision of one man.
Rohit Kachroo, ITV News, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And joining me here in Lviv, UNICEF's Spokesman James Elder. It's good to get you back, James, because I want to get an update. What is the current situation when it comes to children in this war? JAMES ELDER, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Utterly dire. Dozens now killed. Almost a million -- we're on the cusp of a million children being refugees. That's unprecedented since World War II by a distance. And as we speak, many thousands in bunkers, petrified.
HOLMES: Yes. We've talked a lot about those fleeing, what about those who can't get out, the internally displaced? What do we know about their conditions, because they're still under fire?
ELDER: Yes, exactly. Whether it's that anecdote of the mother who explained to me she would lie over her child in a basement, because she was just thinking it was an extra layer of support, whether it's those people who we think can leave. And as we saw gunned down yesterday, or the children whose families are taking water from oil heaters because they have not had access to water because critical infrastructure is being hit. It's life for a child in a war zone. It's harrowing.
HOLMES: I know you've been talking to pediatricians who are trying to help as well. What is the situation with them, and what are they doing?
ELDER: Yes, they're extraordinary in what they do. But here in Lviv, they had around 60 children come from hospitals in Kyiv who Kyiv can no longer treat, of course, from basements. So they're doing emergency surgery. They're doing training as well, very, very stark training in terms of prioritizing if they get an influx of children.
So Michael, a green sticker means OK. Yellow means let's get some attention for this child. Red is we need critical attention on this child. If they put a black sticker on the child, it means they're not going to make it.
HOLMES: That's just heartbreaking. What about supplies? I mean, medical supplies. I mean, we know there's a need for food and things like that in some areas, but medical supplies obviously critical now because of the injured.
[01:15:01]
ELDER: Yes, absolutely, spot on. I mean, UNICEF, we brought in tons. We are supporting this hospital here and hospitals now across the country which are working in bunkers and basements. But got to be honest, it's triage right now. You know, the surest way to protect kids is to stop the bombing for cessation of hostilities.
Now, UNICEF and other agencies got to keep pouring supplies in as we can. But it's also very difficult while they're ceasefires keep being broken --
HOLMES: Yes.
ELDER: -- by Russian forces to protect children and protect humanitarian workers.
HOLMES: We did a story here the other day on a foster facility here where kids have been brought in from other parts of the country, which are being shelled and being cared for here. I mean, we took hundreds of kids in that situation. The person running the place said to us that, you know, here in Lviv, we get air raid sirens, but nothing's hit the place so far.
But with these kids, when they hear the siren, they freak out. They're traumatized. She said, they are scarred by what they're saying. What sort of stories are you hearing that stood out to you?
ELDER: Every moment, every day, I guess, two of yesterday. If you will, one, a center where people are looking after autistic children. And the same thing, mothers who've traveled 10 hours with children who -- and they had great setups, they talked so much about the setups they had for these children and mothers now who can't go to bunkers because the children can't be in a closed space. And the sound of bombing just has been screaming for hours.
Yesterday, Michael, at the train station, talking to a lovely young woman and she was saying, no, we're going to get through this. We'll get through this. And she stops it. But I'm pregnant. She said, I fell in love a few years ago, I got married a year ago, I found out a day before the war started.
And, you know, and she then went gunbarrel straight, which is better for your audience here. I want to talk to the world. She said, I'm pregnant. I want my child to know its father. Stop this war.
HOLMES: Oh my god, that is just heartbreaking to hear. You've outlined eloquently how bad it is, how much worse could it get?
ELDER: Much worse. I think what happened in Syria, what we saw there. If we're at a million children very close on the cusp today, tomorrow, in under two weeks, we will see many more children killed, we will see maybe millions flee, and a trauma of a nation, a nation that you've seen at these people --
HOLMES: Yes.
ELDER: -- with such spirit and verve and energy, an embracing of a free world. And they're at risk of a nation being traumatized and children being scarred for years to come.
HOLMES: And you just think, you know, a month ago people were living normal lives and going about their business. And now look what's happening to this country.
James Elder, it's always good to get your thoughts. I mean, the kids are important. Come back again soon. We'll talk.
ELDER: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right. James Elder there with UNICEF.
All right, well, the humanitarian crisis worsening as Russian forces assaults civilian areas, and they are assaulting civilian areas. Coming up later this hour, my guest will be a Ukrainian woman, one of many fleeing the violence brought upon her home. Also meet some of the Ukrainian women who are staying behind providing vital support to the man at the front line.
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[01:22:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It's clear Mr. Putin has a plan to destroy and terrorize Ukraine. If the last two weeks have shown us anything, it's that the Ukrainian people are not going to give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations there sparing no words about the Russian president. The women of Ukraine are playing a major role supporting their husbands, sons and brothers who have gone to the front. Their fear and sadness is evidence but their strength is unwavering.
Anderson Cooper spoke with several of them here in Lviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In a volunteer center in Lviv, moms whose husbands and children have taken up arms gather supplies for those fighting for their East.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We understand we need to hold strong like a fist like this, and we have very strong faith. We believe that we will win and this will hold us together.
COOPER (voice-over): Rena (ph) works for a group called "Angel on Your Shoulder." She's recruited more than 100 women to pack boxes around the clock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Non-stop, non-stop.
COOPER (voice-over): Everything is donated, medicine, and toiletries, all kinds of pre-packaged food.
(on-camera): They're looking for things which are easy to prepare which you can add water to for troops at the front or families.
(voice-over): Nothing stays here for long. The work is hard. The war is harder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
COOPER (voice-over): Angela's husband left for the front yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband yesterday --
COOPER (voice-over): He's a doctor, a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
(on-camera): Does it helps to work here to stay busy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We are doing what we can. We keep on praying. People ask how you're not crying but, you know, crying doesn't help. Each person does what they can.
COOPER (voice-over): Angela is in the reserves as well. But for now, she's taking care of her family and volunteering.
(on-camera): Thank you for your strength. You give me and everybody strength.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Thank you very much.
COOPER (voice-over): In another building, more mothers, more volunteers making camouflage netting to high tanks and artillery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Let me teach you. Do you see? Just like this.
COOPER (voice-over): Alina's (ph) son is already in the fight.
(on-camera): What made you want to come here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We need to protect our country. It is difficult to speak. My son is in the army since 2015. I did not want to let him go and he said, who will go if not me? How will I be able to say to people that I hid and sheltered? So he left and it was it extremely difficult for me.
[01:25:03]
COOPER (voice-over): Many in this room have had to flee their homes in Kharkiv and Kyiv. They wonder when the bombs will fall here.
(on-camera): If you could talk to mothers in Russia, what would you tell them?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): I would tell them to take their sons back. We're also sorry for them. They're also humans. Human life was created by God. How can it be taken away just like that? They will be judged and faced punishment for this. You cannot do this. Let them take their kids.
COOPER (voice-over): This war has many fronts. And for mothers, there are many ways to fight.
Anderson Cooper, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, the line of refugees waiting to leave Ukraine stretches as far as the eye can see. We'll get a report from the border with Poland coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: More now on our top story this hour, we're waiting to see if Russia's proposal for a ceasefire in five of Ukraine's hardest hit cities will play out as promised. According to Moscow, it's expected to start in about 30 minutes from now. We will continue monitoring the situation on the ground very closely as you would imagine.
[01:30:00]
Now in theory, that cease-fire would allow civilians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and three other cities to evacuate safely. It comes as the conflict grows ever more deadly for civilians.
The U.N. reporting at least 400 civilians, including 27 children have been killed since Russia invaded. That number is probably an under estimate.
Thousands of other people have managed to escape the fighting. The U.N. reporting more than 1.7 million refugees have fled Ukraine in less than two weeks, a staggering number.
But getting more people out has proven difficult. Several evacuation attempts fell apart over the weekend, after Russian troops were accused of shelling the escape routes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIY KYSLYTSYA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Russia continues to cynically disregard the norms of international humanitarian law during hostilities. Russian troops blocked numerous attempts of the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate civilians through humanitarian corridors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Poland has taken in well over a million refugees from Ukraine, more than any other country by far. In fact, six out of ten people who have fled this country are now in Poland.
CNN's Scott McLean is along the border between the two countries.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With all of the shelling and bombing, there has been a noticeable uptick in Ukrainians now headed for the exit. We are about five miles from the Polish border, at the first of a series of checkpoints on route to the border and you can see the cars are sitting still, just waiting to reach the front of this checkpoint.
Many of these people have already been traveling for several days, making their way through the blockades and checkpoints throughout the country just to get to this point.
We spoke to a woman at a further checkpoint who said that she has already been in line waiting for 27 hours and she was nowhere near the front of the line. She was with her mother, her sister, her niece, her son, and two dogs in a very small car.
Further toward the border, buses are dropping off people from Lviv to cross on foot. There the lines stretch for several blocks and we met one woman who was traveling with her two small children from Irpin, a suburb near Kyiv that has taken intense shelling in recent days. She left just two days before all that started.
We also met an elderly couple who came from Kharkiv, who had been sheltering for eight days inside of a metro station. They left only after a bomb hit a police station nearby and shook the metro station that they were in underground with many women and children.
That is when they realized this war is not going to end anytime soon and they started heading west.
Many of them will transit through the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, a train hub still relatively safe, has not been hit with any bombs, at least not yet.
The mayor of that city says that Lviv has reached its capacity to help people. He is now calling on international aid organizations to do more.
Scott McLean, CNN -- near the Polish border in Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Joining me now is Kseniia Putiatina. She recently fled her home in Odessa, Ukraine. She's currently in Istanbul, Turkey. I really appreciate you making the time. I'm glad you are safe, first of all.
How was the journey out of Odessa? I know it took you a very long time, in very cold weather.
KSENIIA PUTIATINA, ODESSA RESIDENT WHO FLED TO ISTANBUL: Hi Michael. Yes, me, the same with many of my friends we had to spend numerous hours on the road. I personally spent nine hours in the traffic jam leading to the border.
Some of my friends they spent up to 30 hours waiting to exit the country. And so it was quite an intense trip, hours and hours in the car. Then several hours waiting on the border in quite cold and extreme conditions.
But finally, we were able to make it safe into Moldova, where we were met by numerous Moldovan volunteers, ready to provide us with anything we needed -- free accommodation, free rides, food, drinks, pin cards, cash, any support for children or pets that were in need. And so that was definitely a --
HOLMES: Yes, an extraordinary amount of help going on in a lot of countries. And it is wonderful that you got that support.
[01:34:54]
HOLMES: You know, I find it interesting because I was reading some of your comments, a lot of people here did not think this would happen, that it would actually occur.
But you saw signs and you were worried, not so much about your life, but about how life would change if Moscow was running the country or influencing the life here and the system here, is that right?
PUTIATINA: Exactly. All of us were somewhat concerned. Some people more, some people less. You know, naturally there were people who prepared to stay positive or oblivious to the danger.
But yes, the main concern for me was not exactly my physical safety, it was what would happen if our troops did not succeed. Because the news coming that the Russians are being savages in the areas that they have managed to take. They are shooting civilians, they are not letting in any people from the (INAUDIBLE) areas.
They are making people, you know, say some horrific things in order to be able to get food or drinks. It is, you know, psychological terror that they are imposing over there. So all of that was my main concern that even if me and my family managed to stay alive, you know, healthy, the living condition, the things that you would need to face that was something that I just couldn't, you know, let happen to myself and my family.
HOLMES: Right. Yes. And the thing we've got to keep remember is that, you know, war really began here back in 2014 with the annexing of Crimea. Then what followed after that.
I mean your home city of Odessa, that's close to Crimea. Did life change for you after 2014 in terms of did you think that you might be next? That Putin would not stop with Crimea.
PUTIATINA: Yes. Back in 2014, there was concern that Odessa may follow in the steps of Crimea or even in the steps of Donetsk and Lugansk. There where quite a few protests instigated by the Russian trying to, you know, claim that Odessa people want to break free from Ukraine, that they want to join Russia. That they want to welcome the so-called Russian world, right.
So it was -- even though we were not directly involved in the conflict for the past years, of course it was a psychological conflict for us, knowing that any day Putin might want to claim Odessa that he still thinks that it's historically Russian and he thinks he has Russians (ph) for my city as well.
HOLMES: Kseniia Putiatina, thank you so much for spending time with us, I hope you get back to Odessa sooner rather than later. I'm glad you are safe, thank you.
PUTIATINA: Thank you. Thank you Michael.
HOLMES: Well, if you would like to help people in Ukraine who might be in need of shelter, food, water and so on, just go to CNN.com/impact. So far 40,000 donors have raised more than $3.2 million. That is incredible, isn't it. Our breaking news coverage continues after the break.
[01:38:32]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm John Vause at CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta.
We'll head back to Michael Holmes in Lviv Ukraine in just a moment.
But first, this breaking development in our coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The World Bank has approved a $723 million dollar emergency loans and grant for Ukraine. And there will be more assistance to come with the bank set to work on another support package in the coming months.
Officials say there will also be financial help for Ukraine's neighbors, dealing with the growing refugee crisis.
Now a closer look at global efforts to try and force Vladimir Putin to end his war on Ukraine. The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, spoke via secure video link with the U.S. President Monday where they agreed to continue to raise the cost on Russia. For now there is no consensus on targeting Russian oil and gas.
Europe remains heavily dependent on Russian natural gas and for the short term, Germany's chancellor says there are no viable alternatives. The U.S. may still impose its own ban on importing Russian oil.
But just talk of sanctions on Russia's energy sector was enough to send financial markets in the U.S. plummeting and the price of crude soaring.
The French president now scheduled to talk by phone with China's Xi Jinping in the coming hours. But at his first campaign event, since announcing a second run for -- another one for a term as president, Emmanuel Macron told voters he could not see an end to the war in Ukraine anytime soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRONS, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Before seeing you, I was on the phone with President Joe Biden. Tomorrow I will be on the phone with President Xi Jinping.
We will continue this work and at the same time I am lucid. I think that at the short term, this war will continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Japan has frozen the assets of 32 Russian and Belarusian officials and oligarchs, while the New Zealand government has passed legislation to impose sanctions on Russia.
And Russia's central bank and sovereign wealth funds are becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, with new sanctions by South Korea expected to take effect Tuesday. Seoul also joined the E.U. in blocking Russian banks from the Swift global payment system.
CNN's Paula Hancocks now reports from Seoul. The government has also announced more than $1.5 billion in aid for local businesses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of these men will likely be the next president of South Korea. Human rights lawyer turned governor Lee Jae-myung on the middle, former state prosecutor and political novice Yoon Suk-yeol on the conservative side.
[01:44:51]
HANCOCKS: From day one they have to deal with a North Korea that appears more concerned with testing weapons than talking.
Neither candidate has foreign policy experience. Lee supports the sort of engagement current President Moon Jae-in has fought with minimal success, but favors a multi pronged solution.
LEE JAE-MYUNG, SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): We need dialogue, as well as sanctions. We need incentives, as well as disincentives. And the most important thing is to secure trust.
HANCOCKS: Yoon believes sanctions should be used only after denuclearization is complete even hinting of a preemptive strike, if he saw signs of an offensive launch against Seoul.
YOON SUK-YEOL, SOUTH KOREA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): North Korea has only improved their nuclear capabilities and disregarded inter Korean dialogue. I will prepare a peace treaty only when and if North Korea moves towards complete and verifiable denuclearization.
HANCOCKS: For years, South Korea has been walking a tightrope of a strong security alliance with the United States and a growing economic relationship with China. The next president may feel more pressure to (INAUDIBLE).
KIM JIYOON, INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, SOGANG UNIVERSITY: -- policy clear, always talked about we have to be balanced between the United States and China. And obviously, the time and the period for that kind of tradition is ending.
HANCOCKS: Lee believes that he can strike a balance.
LEE: We are moving the U.S.-South Korea alliance into a more comprehensive one, but we cannot ignore the economic relationship and geographical proximity to China.
HANCOCKS: Yoon is looking for stronger ties with the U.S. including the installment of a second anti-ballistic missile system far South Korean soil. China staged an economic boycott after the first was installed in 2017. YOON: South Korea and the United States share an alliance forged in
blood, as we fought together to protect freedom against the tyranny of communism.
HANCOCKS: Gender equality is also a key issue, particularly among younger voters. A unique clash of those pushing for more equality for women, and so-called anti-feminists claiming discrimination against men.
Yoon is (INAUDIBLE) votes among the anti feminist, promising to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family if elected.
Lee has been more vocal on women's rights.
A third candidate, Sim Sang-jung from the Justice Party is expected to garner young female support with, but her polling numbers have been low leaving a close battle between conservatives and liberals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Paula joins us now live now from Seoul. Quite a time to have an election right now. So how much is this aid package for the local businesses affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How much has that got to do with this election.
HANCOCKS: Well John, we know that they have pledged some $10 million in humanitarian aid. And what we are really seeing from the current president, Moon Jae-in at this point is he is trying to keep in tandem with what the U.S. and other countries are doing, and trying to increase the economic sanctions against Russia and also to help the Ukraine.
Now what is interesting is these two men that I was just talking about there, the two front runners for the next president of South Korea, neither one of them has foreign policy experience. One is a complete political novice when it comes to anything political. So certainly they are going to have to hit the ground running when it comes to dealing with Ukraine.
But what South Korea has done at this point is they have put the exports ban of certain goods to Russia into place, also to Belarus as well. They have also said that they are going to remove Moscow from the SWIFT network as the U.S. and many other countries have done.
Also saying that they are going to suspend any transactions and any dealings with Russia's central bank and two of the sovereign wealth funds.
So what President Moon Jae-in is trying to do is make sure that they are in complete lockstep with the United States.
Now of course, the election is tomorrow, that is Wednesday, and then it will be May when the next president takes power. We will have to see whether or not they continue with that same tack. They've said that they will, but of course what presidential candidate saying campaigning can be very different to what we see happen when they become the president, John.
VAUSE: Absolutely common everywhere, it seems. Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks, live in Seoul.
Right now, the exact whereabouts of two-time Olympic basketball champion American Brittney Griner remains unknown. So too her fate after Russian authorities say that she was detained in Moscow's airport last month on drug charges.
More than 25,000 people have now signed an online petition, demanding her immediate release. While the Biden administration is working to secure her release, many fear she could be used as a political pawn by the Kremlin.
Griner has played basketball in Russia during the WNBA off-season for the p1ast seven years. According to a statement by Russian officials, hash oil was allegedly found in her luggage, a crime which carries a ten year jail sentence.
I'm John Vause here at CNN's World Headquarters, in Atlanta. After the break we will head back to Ukraine for our continuing breaking news coverage with Michael Holmes live from Lviv.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every Ukrainian just hopes that NATO will close the sky for us, because we are ready to fight and we are ready to protect us from tanks, and from artillery. But we are not able to protect our sky. We thank God to protect our sky, because NATO is just watching.
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HOLMES: And welcome back everyone. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. The Ukrainian defense ministry says it has formed a special unit to fight the Russian invasion, thanks to the help of thousands of foreign volunteers. We are told that the quote, international legion has already started carrying out combat missions. One military leader says veterans and volunteers from 52 countries, want to join the unit. Already he said the number has exceeded 20,000.
Now, two climbers scaled the tallest building in Paris on Monday to show their support for Ukraine. No ropes, used only their bare hands. They reached the top in just under an hour, placing a Ukrainian flag on the building along the way.
[01:54:57]
HOLMES: One climber said this stunt represents quote, "1 percent of the courage Ukrainians have displayed".
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. I will be back after the break with much more on our breaking news.
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HOLMES: Hello everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.
And right now is when the cease-fire proposed by Russia is meant to take effect in five hard-hit Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, but no one knows if it will be honored this time.
The cease fire meant to give civilians an opportunity to evacuate via humanitarian corridors.
[01:59:54]
HOLMES: But under the Kremlin's plan, most of those corridors would lead to Russia and its strong ally Belarus, where many refugees obviously do not want to go.
