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Mariupol Hospital Bombed During Russian-Proposed Ceasefire; Ukraine Blames Russia For Children's Hospital Bombing; Thousands Race To Evacuate Besieged Ukrainian Cities; Days Of Bombing In Mykolaiv Taking Its Toll On Civilians; Conservative Yoon Suk Yeol Elected as Next South Korean President. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 10, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

[23:59:52]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.

[00:00:04]

HOLMES: Horrifying and depraved. That's how many including world leaders are describing the attack on a children's hospital and maternity ward. This is in the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine. We are about to air some images you might find disturbing.

They show some of the 17 pregnant women and staff who were visibly wounded in the blast. They were likely many more. Now that casualty count provided by regional police, by the way, and you can see there is blood, there is tremendous amount of rubble.

A few hours before the bombing, Russia's Foreign Ministry claimed Ukrainian combat troops were holed up in that hospital and had expelled patients and staff. Well, clearly that is not true.

Russia's ambassador to France in fact insisted Russian forces were not involved in the explosion, and that they are under clear orders not to target civilians.

Again, look at the pictures. He tried to blame the attack on Ukrainian nationalists.

Now, Ukraine's president says what happened is indefensible and that his troops would never commit a war crime like this, even in the separatist regions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Children's hospital, maternity ward, why were they a threat to Russian Federation? What kind of country is Russian Federation that is afraid of hospitals, afraid of maternity wards and destroys them? A strike on a maternity hospital is a final proof, a proof of genocide

of Ukrainians is taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, there are many things egregious about this attack among them that it happened during what was supposed to be a ceasefire. A Ceasefire proposed by Russia that was meant to help civilians trapped in Mariupol to escape.

CNN's Sam Kiley picks up the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We're really stretched, whatever cards you have, send them here. He says airstrike maternity hospital. This was Russia's response to a global appeal for a ceasefire to evacuate a city of a million people. A bomb dropped next to a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

It's hospital number three. Inside a frantic search for survivors. Early reports say that there were more than a dozen injured, a miraculous outcome to an attempt to a mass killing at a place where lives should begin. Many women and children had already fled to underground bunkers after a week of Russian bombardment.

Ukraine's President renewed his pleas for NATO to drive Russia from his nation's skies after the hospital air strike.

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Everything that the occupiers do with Mariupol is already beyond atrocity, Europeans, Ukrainians, citizens of Mariupol. Today, we must be united in condemning this war crime of Russia.

KILEY: Evacuations from other towns have been more successful, but still very limited. Around 700 people, mostly women and children were bussed out of (INAUDIBLE), the site of Europe's biggest nuclear reactor, which was captured recently by Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The shops are empty. There's nothing there. Not enough medical supplies. We're tired. We need to eat and rest.

KILEY: It may seem extraordinary, but these are the lucky ones. They've escaped from the shadow of a nuclear power station and the clutches of Russian troops but in comparison to what people are enduring in Mariupol, this is good fortune.

Yulia Karaulan volunteers at refugee center in Zaporizhzhia set up to receive people fleeing her hometown of Mariupol. It's empty. She's been waiting a week for news from home of her husband Evgeny (PH) and daughter. Yessir (PH). This morning, she got a brief call.

How's your daughter doing?

YULIA KARAULAN, VOLUNTEER, HOMETOWN MARIUPOL: My daughter told me she loves me.

KILEY: Of course, she does.

KARAULAN: Actually, how she's alive, it's a miracle. She's doing like all of his children doing now in Mariupol. Almost no food, no drinking water, no electricity. It was minus five this night. They have no heat sitting in a cold basement in some coats.

KILEY: Her small family is living in a bomb shelter with hundreds of others. She says they can only survive another few days. Then, they will have to surface. Perhaps to face more of this.

Sam Kiley, CNN, Zaporizhzhia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, if you haven't seen enough already -- if you haven't seen enough already, we're going to air some more images you will certainly find disturbing. They show bodies being placed in mass graves. This is in Mariupol as well, which of course was hit hard early in the invasion, and it's now been under siege for about a week.

Two city officials say about 1,300 civilians have been killed there since this all began. Of course, CNN cannot independently confirm that figure but that city officials now goes far beyond the U.N.'s estimated death toll of 516, which is for the entire country.

[00:05:17]

HOLMES: The ramped-up attacks are also unfolding in other key parts of Ukraine, you can see the areas in red where Russian troops have been gaining ground.

Now, Beth Sanner is a former U.S. Deputy Director of National Intelligence, now a CNN National Security Analyst. She joins me now from Bethesda in Maryland.

I want to tap into your experience. There were many people who were surprised Putin actually did this, invaded Ukraine, went across the border. But you thought well before this invasion, he indeed would do this or was likely to. Briefly, why was that?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think if you've watched Putin over many, many years, you know that he's capable of just about anything. And if you combine that with what he felt was his role, and recreate this part of Russia, historic Russia, and he looked at his watch and thought, you know, time is running out, and that the moment is right. And there were lots of reasons for the moment being right. But he had prepared for this for a long time, and he decided to pull the trigger.

And I think also just understanding that, you know, he is not getting the kind of information that would have caused him to make good decisions based on the information. So, he did not understand that it was going to go this way. And I think that that, you know, plays into that. HOLMES: Whatever his isolation, he obviously in his head made a strategic decision. Now, given the united response to the West, the problems on the battlefields, the sanctions, the isolating of Russia as a country, the damage being done to the economy. Given all of that, would he be thinking now, it was a good strategic decision?

SANNER: Probably not, I'm sure that there's some buyer's remorse here. But you know, when you have put this much in, it's not like you can walk away and say, at this moment, never mind. You know, he has to kind of go forward. And I think that's why a lot of us are saying that we expect him to double down a little bit more before he's actually going to be willing to make any concessions. He's going to have to get something out of this given what he has expended.

HOLMES: Yes, and then the question is, what is that? Do you think there will come a point where he realizes there is not a military solution for him in the way he would have envisioned anyway, you know, toppling the government, installing his own, you know, having Ukraine at some sort of vassal state? Do you think that point will come? And if so, what then?

SANNER: I think that that point may have already come. But that doesn't mean that he can stop now. He may see. And perhaps, that is part of why there's a meeting now today, Thursday, in Turkey between Lavrov and Kuleba, the foreign ministers is because he's preparing for that point where there should be a negotiated -- there must be a negotiated solution.

But I think also, we have to keep in mind that it can't just be a negotiation between Ukraine and Russia, it's also going to have to bring in the United States and the Europeans, because he's going to have to get some kind of agreement that walks back just the incredible pain that we are now placing on the Russian economy.

SANNER: Yes, you're talking about that tipping point, you know.

And yes, a lot of people think it could be here, and he's going to have to negotiate. But, you know, when the strength of punishment combined with the lack of battlefield progress and where he's at now. When that becomes an existential threat to Putin, his own survivability, at least as a politician, could that cause him to lash out even more given his state of mind?

SANNER: Yes, that is the risk. And I think that's why you hear a lot of people talking about, you know, we have to be careful not to corner him, because we don't know, you know, what the limits would be if he actually feels this existential threat.

And again, as you put it, Michael, that existential threat would be against Putin, pushing Putin out of power, a threat to his rule, and that is how he would see it.

And you know, there's a lot in Russian doctrine that worries people who study Russia about what he might do in those circumstances.

HOLMES: Yes, and frankly, that's terrifying. I was talking to an analyst this week who made the point that one lesson of history is that autocratic rulers cannot lose wars and remain autocrats.

So, how at risk do you think he is if this doesn't go the way he wanted? All the cost to ordinary Russians and the Russian economy are as bad as they look like they could be. Do you think he could be toppled?

[00:10:02]

SANNER: Well, you know, that historian would probably tell you that there's a timeline that varies a lot in terms of whether autocrats can stay in power, sometimes it would go quickly, and sometimes it's gone. It's taken a very long time.

I also think that you know, in this case, Putin does have a lot of levers of power, that help him stay in. But you know, things can happen, things turn on a dime.

You look at Egypt, you look at some other places where out of nowhere, you can have something happen. But I don't think we're there yet.

Right now, Putin is really putting the clamps down on society. But we are just at the beginning of seeing the pain. So, we have a little ways to go before we'll know what direction this goes in.

HOLMES: Absolutely, and even with success on the battlefield, losing can take different forms when it comes to Vladimir Putin.

Really glad we got you on Beth Sanner, terrific analysis. A good voice on this. Really appreciate it. Thanks.

SANNER: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Well, there are plans to prepare six humanitarian routes to open up in the coming hours. They would offer desperately needed evacuations on places like Mariupol also Volnovakha.

Now, both of those cities surrounded by Russian forces for several days as we've been reporting, President Zelenskyy said nearly 35,000 people were rescued from Sumy, that's in the Kyiv -- in the Kyiv region and from Enerhodar on Wednesday.

Now, Matthew Chance reports for us now on the humanitarian corridors that are a lifeline away from makeshift shelters and relentless Russian strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the chaos of this evacuation, the frantic search for lost child. The rush to escape the fighting an orphan has been left behind. Each bus are desperately checked for a familiar face.

Hi. Hello, hi. Do you speak English?

For the journey across the front line, the children are well protected against the cold. If not at all. The older kids were terrified, Natasha (PH) tells me. But the little ones didn't understand the danger they were all in, she says.

This is a mass exodus from areas under heavy Russian assault. The agreed safe corridor which hundreds of civilians, entire families are using to escape before it closes. Leaving the horrors of the past few weeks behind.

NADIA, RESIDENT OF VORZEL: My name is Nadia.

CHANCE (on camera): Nadia. Where have you come from, Nadia?

NADIA: From Vorzel.

CHANCE: From Vorzel, which is a town up there.

NADIA: Yes. This is a time -- this is a place which was -- which was the very dangerous and there are a lot of Russians and a lot of Chechens. I don't know.

CHANCE: Russians and Chechens?

NADIA: Yes, Russians and Chechens. And they kill our owner of the house where we're sitting.

CHANCE: They killed the owner of the house?

NADIA: Yes, they killed the owner of the house.

CHANCE: And so, you must have been and your family over here, you must have been terrified?

NADIA: Yes.

CHANCE: Frightening.

NADIA: It was terrified. Absolutely terrified. My family is OK.

CHANCE: OK.

NADIA: Now we are going to the -- we're leaving.

CHANCE: Where?

NADIA: 10 days in the underground.

CHANCE: You've been 10 days underground.

NADIA: 10 days underground.

CHANCE: Oh, my goodness. Well, there you have it. You know, just one family that has, you know, taken this opportunity to escape the horrific situation they found themselves in for the last 10 days or more. And again, you know, take that chance to get themselves and their children out of here.

KONSTANTYN USOV, KYIV DEPUTY MAYOR: We have a lot of volunteers who helped with nutrition and warm. CHANCE: They're helping them do that safely. This embattled Ukrainian official tells me is now as much a part of fighting this war with Russia is killing the enemy.

USOV: Warm food and warm drinks. We have a medical crew that helps to manage people that were wounded. We've seen shelled people with broken and ruptured legs here. And we have a security force that actually interview people because we are afraid that Russians may have sent some of their own in the --

CHANCE: As spies.

USOV: As spies. As --

CHANCE: As saboteurs.

USOV: As saboteurs, yes, right here.

CHANCE: And all this is happening, of course, all this is happening under the threat, the threat of artillery strikes and gunfire.

USOV: Sure.

CHANCE: That's a real threat right now.

USOV: That's a real threat. But we have no choice because we have thousands of people who really have spent more than a week in the basements with no cellular coverage, with no access to medical assistants with no food, no lights, no electricity, and they want to flee. They need us to help them.

[00:15:12]

CHANCE: But as the buses leave for the capital, the boom of artillery fire resumes in the distance. The window to this escape from the fighting is closing fast.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, outside of Kyiv, evacuations continue as well. Burned out buildings and homes telling the story of Mykolaiv. We'll speak with some of those who have survived Vladimir Putin's onslaught when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. Now, to see the human toll of Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, look no further than the city of Mykolaiv after days of shelling and bombing victims coming to terms with their injuries, and the fact that they may be the lucky ones.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [00:20:18]

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is probably when Russian forces tried to cut off Mykolaiv, pushing to its North to encircle it. Ukrainian shells here not holding them back.

The governor told locals to bring tires to the streets, which they did fast. And in the dark, Russia's punishment of just about everyone here did not let up.

An airstrike flatten this warehouse. And if you needed proof the Kremlin seeks to reduce all life here. 1,500 tons of onions, beer and pumpkins were an apparent target for a military jet.

So, Rezhenya and Radmila (PH). In the back bedroom when a missile hits, Rezhenya built this home himself 43 years ago, and knows he lacks the strength to do so again. Radmila says she doesn't even have her slippers now.

The hospitals are steeped in pain. Their corridors running underground. Svetlana lost three friends Tuesday when Russian shells hit the car they were traveling to change shift and to disable children's homes. When she ducked, she saved her life. She names her three dead friends.

Nicholai (PH) was badly burned by a missile in his yard. Moscow targets hospitals and so they perversely need their own bomb shelters where sick children wait for the sirens to end.

Stass (PH) is 12 and alone but he doesn't know the reason his father is not here just now is because he is burying Stass's mother and sister.

STASS: I was in the neighbor's basement when the bomb hit the roof on my side. We ran to my granny's house, another hit there. My arm is broken. My dad and neighbor brought me here. I was in coma for two days.

WALSH: Sonia (PH) has shrapnel in her head, causing her to spasm. A mother explains they were outside taping up the house windows when the blast hits, while all the time trying to get Sonia to keep still.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cut the tape, turned around to hear a noise and I saw the missile flew behind us. and I said, Sonia, let's go. We ran, Sonia in front of me and then I heard the blast. Little Sonia, quiet, quiet. Sonia, little Sonia, don't worry everything will be OK.

SONIA: I am cold.

WALSH: Outside, it is cold and loud.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I'll have more from Lviv in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:28:37]

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine.

More now on our breaking news, the attack on a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol by an apparent Russian strike on Wednesday.

Local police say at least 17 people were wounded, that includes mothers and staff, the attack during swift condemnation and renewed pleas from Ukraine's president for a no-fly zone to be implemented.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY (through translator): Europeans, Ukrainians, citizens of Mariupol. Today, we have to be united and condemning this Russian war crime in which is reflected all the evil that Russian occupants brought to our land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the bombing in the Southeastern port city came during what was supposed to be a 12 hour pause in fighting to allow civilians to evacuate.

Mariupol has been pretty much surrounded by Russian forces for days, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped largely without access to food, water, and electricity.

Meanwhile, a new round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place in Turkey in a few hours. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will sit down with his Russian counterparts Sergey Lavrov. Turkey's foreign minister will also be there.

Kuleba says that Ukraine's focus is on achieving a ceasefire freeing Ukrainian territories and resolving humanitarian issues. But he admits he does not have high expectations for the talks.

[00:30:10]

Well, it has been two weeks now since Russia unleashed its unprovoked assault on this country. And we have seen the devastating toll facing civilians as attacks ramp up, evacuations remain limited, and the death toll climbs. The heartbreak and devastation on the ground unimaginable.

CNN's Phil Black reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Our plans are not to occupy Ukraine. We do not plan to impose ourselves on anyone. PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With those

false words, the unthinkable began. Violence, destruction, and suffering rained down on Ukraine and its people.

In this new time of horrors, people sheltered underground or risked being bombed in their homes.

Vast numbers had little choice but to flee. Their leader had a choice but decided to stay. "The president is here," he said from the streets of Kyiv.

Russia's firepower, its vastly greater numbers, failed to make quick early progress. Some of the first Russian units to try pushing into major cities were wiped out, while advanced weapons supplied by allies added to Russian losses. Here, knocking an attack helicopter out of the sky.

Vladimir Putin insisted Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Ukrainian civilians showed they disagreed by chasing Russian vehicles. Lying down before, climbing on top of them. Even defying Russian gunfire to peacefully protest the invasion.

But while Ukraine's spirited resistance inspired the world, Russia's war machine continued to inflict a terrible human cost. Near Kyiv, thousands fled across a downed bridge, the bombardment ever closer.

For some in Ukraine, death now comes with little warning. This strike killed a family of four.

Cameras have occasionally captured terrifying moments of impact. All weapons flying through the sky. Far more often, they record the aftermath. The fires; blackened, ripped and punctured buildings. Usually, people's homes and businesses. But also schools, churches, hospitals.

The devastated communities that proved false Russia's claim civilians are not targets.

Two weeks into this war, Russia's invasion grinds on, advancing in the south, slowly encircling Kyiv from the north and Kharkiv in the east. The world can only watch, largely united in disgust, determined to punish Vladimir Putin but incapable of stopping him.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now the White House is warning that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine. That comes in response to Russia's claim that the U.S. has biological and chemical weapons laboratories in Ukraine.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, tweeted this. Quote, "Now that Russia has made these false claims and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It is a clear pattern," she says.

Well, the U.S. denies it is developing or possesses chemical or biological weapons anywhere in the world.

I will have more from Ukraine later this hour, but first, let's bring in John Vause in Atlanta. Over to you, John.

JOHN VAUSE: Michael, thank you. We'll take you a short break here, as well.

Just ahead, the U.S. vice president on a mission to mend fences after the White House rejected Poland's offer to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:38:30]

VAUSE: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has been dispatched again to Europe at this hour. She's in Poland, where she's scheduled to meet with the president and prime minister.

The White House says she will reiterate U.S. support for the NATO allies and the Ukrainian people and emphasize that Russia is heading for a resounding defeat.

But her visit comes as the U.S. has rejected a Polish offer to send MiG-29 fighter jets via a U.S./NATO air base in Germany. The Pentagon says it wants to keep NATO out of the war, and it's considering other ways to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The intelligence community has assessed that the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in a significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO. Therefore, we also assess the transfer of the MiG-29's to Ukraine to be high-risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Robert English is the director of the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California and is with us this hour from Los Angeles.

Robert, thank you for being with us.

ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR, SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Welcome.

VAUSE: OK. So there's been a lot of back and forth over the MiG-29s offered by Poland. I want you to listen to Congressman Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Congress. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): I can't stomach quibbling and drawing lines when Putin has already said that the sanctions are war. We're delivering lethal aid. Do we honestly think Putin's going to draw distinction between the Javelins and Stingers that are coming across killing Russians very effectively from jets protecting the skies above?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:40:07]

VAUSE: Is he right? Is selling MiGs to Ukraine simply a distinction without a difference?

ENGLISH: We can't know what distinction Putin will draw. And that's why many of the allies in particular are really nervous that it would be seen as a major escalation and draw us into some spiral that we don't want to go near. Right?

The same thing applies for the ideas of a no-fly zone, something else that potentially could really help the Ukrainians. But we in NATO and the U.S., as well, are dubious about its effectiveness and nervous that it would be seen, it would draw us into conflict directly with Russia.

In both cases, we look really weak. This has been a bad week for alliance unity and a united stand in applying pressure to Russia and helping the Ukrainians.

VAUSE: But did the White House, by publicly describing the transfer of the jets as a possible course for Russian escalation essentially just make it that?

ENGLISH: It probably wasn't a wise thing to say, and a lot of people would put in the same category as ruling out any U.S. combat troops in the conflict from day one. Right? We weakened our hand preemptively.

And again, this goes to how difficult it is to maintain alliance unity. Putin just has his own army and his subservient ally in Belarus to worry about, and they follow orders. We have to have consensus. We have to negotiate. We have squabbling, and it's not pretty.

And that's only on the military side, right? We have to also worry when the economic pain and the blowback from sanctions hits, especially our European allies.

We already see fissures in that unity now, let's say between the British and the Germans and the Italians. And that's going to be hard to stay -- to keep united, as well.

VAUSE: So after that children's hospital was hit by Russian airstrike in Mariupol, President Zelenskyy pleaded once again for that no-fly zone over Ukraine. Part of his tweet read, "Close the sky right now! Stop the killings!" The U.S. And the U.K. are firmly opposed to that no-fly zone. They really iterated that again.

And here's the U.K. foreign secretary. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We believe that the best way of tackling this threat is to help the Ukrainians with the star streak air defenses that we will be supplying on the issue of a no-fly zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So again, how is giving Ukrainian soldiers weapons to shoot down Russian jets any different than given Ukrainian pilots warplanes to shoot down Russian jets?

ENGLISH: I hope there aren't commercial interests at stake here. But frankly, there are -- I suppose the distinction being drawn is a fighter jet is a weapon of war. It's an offensive weapon.

Whereas an air defense missile system, a battery like that, can be construed as purely defensive. It's a fine line. I know you've got a point in that it probably doesn't make a difference to the Russians. But we are parsing it very carefully.

And it just goes to how worried we are about Vladimir Putin escalating and rattling that nuclear saber. We would not ever go near a nuclear threat actual use in a conventional conflict like this, and it appears at least he's giving us to believe that he might, and he's deterring us.

VAUSE: It seems like the U.S. and NATO turning up to a gunfight with a knife, right? So against that background, how will Vice President Kamala Harris essentially convince NATO that the U.S. holds -- you know, that the U.N. allies that the U.S. is fully committed to the defense of NATO, as well as Ukraine?

ENGLISH: She's going there to do good work as a diplomat, as an ambassador. But I don't know the answer to your question, because it doesn't -- it doesn't resolve the underlying difficulties that, unfortunately, we have a war of attrition underway. Right?

And I don't think -- that's what the military specialists are saying -- that no-fly zone or not makes for a few dozen, makes for Ukraine are not. They're not going to really substantively change the battle on the ground. It's going to grind on for weeks.

And what's about to hit is an economic war of attrition. Right? Russia is reeling under these economic sanctions. But unfortunately, a recession is about to hit Europe with skyrocketing energy prices, commodity prices. Analysts are now saying we can expect to see recession in Europe. Which side in this war of attrition can hold out longer?

We are much stronger militarily and economically than Russia, but Putin is determined. And he has the ability to inflict this kind of pain on his people. That they can withstand, because they have no choice. And our unity will be sorely tested. Our strength and determination

will be really tested. It's going to be hard to keep the allies together and keep the sacrifices necessary for our citizens to be made.

VAUSE: Yes, that's a grim prediction of what's to come. But a very valid one. I want to thank you so much. Appreciate you being with us.

[00:45:03]

ENGLISH: You're welcome.

VAUSE: All right. South Korea has a new president-elect. Conservative Yoon Suk Yeol is the People Power Party's squeaked out a victory over the Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung with just over 48 percent of the vote.

This marks a significant shift from the leadership of the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in.

Yoon has promised a tougher stance against North Korea and a closer relationship with the U.S., referred to as ironclad by the White House on Wednesday.

The news comes as the U.S. sets up intelligence gathering and surveillance of North Korea after a flurry of recent ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has also ordered missile defense forces in the region to heightened alert.

Live to Seoul, and CNN's Paula Hancocks is standing by. It seems that the world is facing a huge international crisis. South Korea has a new president with virtually no foreign policy experience. Interesting days ahead.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. I mean, you don't really need to use the word "virtually." He has no foreign policy experience.

But quite frankly, the other frontrunner also had no foreign policy experiences. So it was an interesting election, and it was a remarkably close call at the end, as well.

There was 0.7 percent in it. That's about 240,000 votes that actually decided the -- the next president of South Korea.

So I should say, there are going to be changes from this current administration. President Moon Jae-in is very much for engagement with North Korea. Yoon Suk Yeol is not. He has said repeatedly that he wants complete denuclearization before he considers easing sanctions. We know that's something that North Korea will not appreciate, will not want to engage with. It was something suggested in Hanoi when he was meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump. And that did not go well.

So he wants a step-by-step process, Kim Jong-un, and that is not what this upcoming president-elect is going to offer him.

Now we do know that he's already spoken, Yoon Suk Yeol, with U.S. President Biden. They had a 20-minute phone conversation. And the president-elect did push Biden to get more involved in the Korean Peninsula, to have a stronger relationship when it comes to dealing with North Korea.

And that is what from what we heard from his campaign promises, because he is still is a political novice. He was a state prosecutor. We've only really seen a few months of what this man would do when he -- when he gets into power.

He has said that he will move closer to the U.S. By default, he will move away from China is effectively what we're hearing. There is a bit of a tricky situation between the U.S. and China, obviously, South Korea in the middle. So he's made clear that -- that his alliances and loyalty lies with the U.S. -- John.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks in Seoul. As always, we appreciate that.

Well, we'll take a short break. When we come back, some Ukrainians fleeing their country away from war now relying on the kindness of strangers. The people of Moldova opening their homes to Ukrainians who have nowhere else to go.

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VAUSE: Welcome back. An old quote says war brings out the worst and the best in people. And some of the best can be seen in a Moldovan village within earshot of the Ukrainian border.

Moldova has received more than 80,000 Ukrainian refugees, a lot for a small country. As Ivan Watson reports, people in one village opening their homes and their hearts to Ukrainians in need.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the day Russia first attacked Ukraine, residents of this sleepy village in Moldova heard explosions.

RUSANDA CURCA, MOLDOVAN ACTIVIST: You can hear sometimes the explosions from -- from Ukraine. It's terrifying.

WATSON: It's not just the sounds of war that are coming across the border. Refugees of the conflict have come here, too. Some Moldovan villagers have opened their doors to their Ukrainian neighbors in their time of need.

People like Boris Mackaiv (ph). This 75-year-old widower welcomed Olga Kusnitsova (Ph), her mother and two children, into his home after they fled across the border last week.

"I feel badly for them," he says. "The children are small. This little one is innocent."

Boris holds 2-year-old Andrei (ph) as if he was his own grandson.

These Ukrainians have never been to Moldova before, but they fled after spending days and nights hiding from Russian airstrikes in the basement of their home.

(on camera): The family left on very short notice after hearing warplanes through the night. They packed two suitcases and left with five minutes' notice.

(voice-over): With no advanced planning, the women relied entirely on the generosity of Moldovans for food, shelter, and clothing, including four 8-year-old Vera (ph).

VERA (ph), UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WATSON (on camera): Vera (ph) says there are very kind people here in Moldova.

What made you want to help?

CURCA: I don't know how to act differently, you know.

WATSON (voice-over): Rusanda Curca has been helping find homes in the village for a few dozen of the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians that have fled to Moldova in the last two weeks.

CURCA: So because it's normally to help people in need. Some people are hosting refugees. Others are donating products, stuff, things. And others are just praying for -- for peace.

WATSON: Down the road from Boris's house, we meet Valentina Chernei (ph). She took in her Ukrainian sister-in-law, Olga, and family, including 29-year-old Natalia, who is seven months' pregnant.

"We have to stop Vladimir Putin," Olga tells me, "or else he'll just keep going, invading countries like Moldova and Poland."

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As she speaks, Olga's 14-year-old daughter fights to hold back tears.

The Moldovan government says tens of thousands of refugees are living in the homes of ordinary Moldovans. An extraordinary act of collective kindness from one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Asked how long he could afford to to continue hosting this Ukrainian family, Boris Mackaiv (ph) told me, they can stay as long as they need.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hirtop (ph), Moldova.

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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. I will be back in a moment with more. But first, we leave you with this music this hour from the Kyiv Classic Symphony Orchestra, performing in the city's Maidan Square.

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