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Russian Military Forces Continue Invasion of Ukraine; Russian Forces Moving Closer to Encircling Ukrainian Capital City of Kyiv; Mayor of Melitopol, Ukraine, Abducted at Gunpoint by Russian Soldiers; Kremlin Claims Ukraine Harbored Labs for Biological Weapons Research; Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Interviewed on Ukrainian Resistance Efforts in Kyiv; U.S. and NATO Response to Russian Invasion of Ukraine Examined; Ukrainians Fleeing to Poland and Romania to Escape Russian Invasion; Humanitarian Organization Provides Food to Ukrainian Refugees; French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to Institute Immediate Cease-Fire During Call. Aired 10-11a ET.

Aired March 12, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:27]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SECURITY GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on this special CNN breaking news coverage. I'm Bianna Golodryga alongside my colleague Anderson Cooper who is in Lviv, Ukraine.

And we begin in Ukraine where Russian forces are tightening their grip on Kyiv, advancing closer and closer to the capital at this hour. There you hear air raid sirens rattling the capital overnight. Russian missile and air strikes damaging infrastructure north and south of the city, causing a massive fire at a warehouse. Satellite images show Russian artillery firing on Kyiv. British defense officials say the bulk of Russia's forces are now just 15 miles from the city center.

Fierce fighting also under way in many other parts of the country. Cities in Ukraine's east and south are under a sustained Russian onslaught. The town of Volnovakha in the east has been taken under Russian control, and the mayor of Melitopol abducted at gunpoint by Russian soldiers. This morning Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky demanding his safe return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The public demands his release. I am grateful to every person in Melitopol for this stance. The occupiers must see that they are aliens here, that they are foreign to the entire land of Ukraine and that they will never be accepted.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GOLODRYGA: Ukrainians desperate to escape that carnage, and today at least 13 humanitarian corridors are opening for civilians to evacuate. The U.N. says more than 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country already.

We're going to go now to CNN's Anderson Cooper anchoring our coverage in Lviv and western Ukraine. Anderson, what are you seeing there this morning?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Bianna, good morning to you. The situation is certainly intensifying here, as you were saying, in a number of cities across the country. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is also in Lviv with me tracking the latest developments. You've been looking at the situation in Kyiv which certainly seems to be intensifying just over the last 24 hours.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. and I know we just went over that latest information from intelligence officials saying 15- and-a-half miles away from the capital right now there are Russian troops amassing. What's really concerning for the intelligence officials is that there was this huge column of Russian tanks a few days ago. Now that's appeared to have dispersed. And what some are reading from that is the intention to encircle the capital.

Now, that's not going to be easy. There's a river to the south. There's going to be tough Ukrainian resistance. But it's extremely worrying for Ukrainians because they already know what a siege looks like, Anderson, right. If you're looking at Mariupol right now, we know what that siege means. It means no power, no food, cutting off from basic supplies. It means families that will be struggling, absolutely struggling if that city is encircled.

COOPER: Mariupol, the city in the south, which has really been under siege, which is critically strategic for the Russians, they want it to get a land bridge to help them ultimately get a land bridge with Crimea. The mayor in Melitopol being taken away by forces, that is obviously a huge concern for President Zelenskyy here.

ABDELAZIZ: This is, I think, a really worrying chapter, because this is different than a military offensive. President Zelenskyy has described this as a threat to the very democracy of this country. This is an elected official, right. This is an elected official that security footage shows was grabbed in broad daylight.

Now, a Russian-backed prosecutor in the Russian backed area says while he is arrested, he's arrested for terrorism-related charges. President Zelenskyy says that's an absolute lie. He's been abducted and he demands the release of this mayor. He calls it a war crime. But it's these types of incidences that give you a broad sense of fear. It's not just about the bombs and bullets. It's about siege. It's about cutting off hunger. It's about losing your elected officials potentially.

COOPER: Also, there's been a lot of talk, obviously, about the Russian desire to decapitate the leadership in Kyiv, but clearly it looks like we may be seeing city officials in other cities that are taken over by Russia also taken away.

ABDELAZIZ: And this is a city that was defiant. After this mayor was taken, again, allegedly abducted, people went out. They protested. This is a city that Russian troops have been trying to take for several days. So in some ways, this is a response to resistance.

COOPER: Salma Abdelaziz, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

ABDELAZIZ: Thank you.

[10:05:01]

COOPER: We are following developments in a number of places throughout Ukraine, obviously. A new and clear warning for Vladimir Putin that he would pay a heavy price if chemical weapons are used here, that came from President Biden on Friday. The warning comes as Russia and China team up to push conspiracy theories about the Pentagon operating some sort of a biological weapons lab inside Ukraine. It is a propaganda campaign that the White House says has just one purpose. CNN's Nina dos Santos explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First, it was nuclear weapons Russia claimed Ukraine was working on. Now the Kremlin, with no evidence, is suggesting Kyiv has a secret chemical stash too. These allegations have been debunked multiple times, but fresh talk of chemical weapons is giving cause for concern.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What are these allegations of preparing chemical attacks? Have you decided to carry out de-chemicalization of Ukraine, using ammonia, using phosphorus? What else have you prepared for us?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They not only have the capacity, they have a history of using chemical and biological weapons, and that in this moment, we should have our eyes open for that possibility.

DOS SANTOS: The White House warns Russia could be setting up a false flag operation, laying the groundwork for a chemical attack of its own just as in Syria, where Russia was accused of providing cover for Bashar al-Assad's regime to use toxic gas on his own people.

KENNETH ROTH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Russia has this indirect complicity in chemical weapon, and indeed even went out of its way to try to cover up the Syrian military's use of chemical weapons.

DOS SANTOS: Thus far we haven't seen Russia engaging in full chemical weapons warfare on innocent civilians in large number, have we?

ROTH: It hasn't done that so far, but it is part of what these people worry that this is not beyond the realm of possibility.

DOS SANTOS: What weapons does Moscow have? No one knows exactly. There's no evidence that Russia has used more common chemicals like chlorine and sarin, all banned internationally for their cruelty.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia would pay a severe price if they used chemical weapons.

DOS SANTOS: That price is not yet clear, though.

How do you think the world would react?

BOB SEELY, MP, U.K. FOREIGN AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE: It would be crossing a line, but it's not necessarily one that will spark a military response. If Putin knows that we will react militarily, then we know that he can decide when and on what terms the west enters this war or NATO enters this war, which would be incredibly unwise.

DOS SANTOS: At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday, the U.S. was in no mood for disinformation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today the world is watching Russia do exactly what we warned it would.

DOS SANTOS: Russia is already facing calls for a war crime investigation for its alleged use of other banned weapons. The mere mention of chemical ones is a worrying escalation.

Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: Joining us now is Petro Poroshenko. He is the former president of Ukraine. We just heard the concerns being raised over the potential use of chemicals in Ukraine. Do you think such an attack by Russia is likely or possible?

PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: In my experience of five years communication with Putin, we have one very important message, please don't trust Putin, please don't trust Russia. I think this is -- Putin is a war criminal. He's absolutely inadequate. He's a mad person. And me as a president of Ukraine can guarantee no chemical, no bacteriological weapons, Ukraine don't have it before and not planning to have it in the future. This is definitely confirmed.

This is classical, very important example of the Russian propaganda. We have many, many times thinking of that because Russia said this is Ukraine who was an aggressor who is making danger for Russian people, and Russia just doing exactly like in the year 1939, the Hitler and Nazis before the World War II.

We think that -- not think. The only thing Ukraine have is we want to be free. We want to be democratic. And Putin just hate Ukraine. He refused us with our European future. Putin hate Ukrainians, and that's why he kill Ukrainians. And more than 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians is killed by Putin during these 17 days.

[10:10:00] And we need to have a strategy for de-Putin-ization, because this is

war not against Ukraine. This is war against freedom and democracy. This is war against the west, against our values, against our principles. And we defend here the European and global peace and security, paying maybe the highest price for that, the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, the lives of Ukrainian children, the life of Ukrainian civilians, and tons of blood Ukraine give because of the Putin aggression. We very much appreciate --

COOPER: President Poroshenko --

POROSHENKO: -- the assistance we have from the United States. We appreciate for the leading role of President Biden, his administration, bipartisan support in the Congress, support of the Europe, NATO. But this is not enough. Please, learn very attentively the experience of the Lend Lease Act in World War II. And with that situation, we need not only -- first of all, we are ready to fight, and we do not need your soldiers. But we need everything. Military jet, antitank, antiaircraft missiles, from nutrition to ammunition, everything. And the --

COOPER: Russian officials say they're not some 15 miles --

POROSHENKO: Sorry?

COOPER: Russian officials say that their forces are now some 15 miles from Kyiv, slowly moving in the outskirts. What do you make of the security situation right now in Kyiv? Do you believe Kyiv can be encircled by Russian forces? Do they have the capabilities?

POROSHENKO: Look, I'm in Kyiv, in the center of Kyiv. And you're right, maybe 15 miles we have Russian tanks. But they are not moving because Ukraine and armed forces stop them. And during the last seven days, they cannot move one single meter ahead. But we have less and less ammunition. And we do not allow -- we are not giving up. We are not forgive the Putin these type of things. And I am absolutely confident that we will fight in every single house, every single street, and every single quarter in Kyiv, in Kharkiv, in Chernihiv, in all of the cities would be the hell for the Russian soldiers and would be, at the end of the day, the hell for Putin.

And with this situation, just the more you help us to increase the effectiveness of Ukrainian armed forces, the weaker would be Putin. And this why the security of the whole world, security of U.S., security of U.N., security of NATO would be higher.

Please, we need to be united, the same way like Putin do three mistake. Mistake number one -- he overestimate his army, and we Ukrainian armed forces demonstrated that. And I am proud that me as a president created this army in the year 2014.

Point number two, he underestimate Ukrainian armed forces. And point number three, he underestimate unity of Ukraine and that he cannot blow up, cannot break our unity. And he underestimate the unity of the whole world, because after the 24th of February, the trans-Atlantic unity, European unity, unity of the whole world demonstrated during the General Assembly of the United Nations, with only five nations support Russia, Syria to North Korea. And this is the basis of the support on one hand. And 141 nations support Ukraine. And Ukraine now providing the beginning, the end of the Russian empire. Don't allow Putin to create Soviet Union second edition. And this do we, Ukraine --

COOPER: Mr. President, President Petro --

POROSHENKO: -- within 15 miles of the Russian tank in the center of Kyiv.

COOPER: President Petro Poroshenko, we appreciate your time. Be careful. Thank you for joining us.

Still ahead, we have more now from inside Ukraine. millions of families, you know, are now starting their lives over, forced to flee Vladimir Putin's assault here. We'll take you live to Romania next.

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[10:18:48]

GOLODRYGA: Russian forces are slowly closing in on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, now roughly 15 miles outside of the city, advancing closer and closer to the capital at this hour. Russian missile and air strikes damaging infrastructure north and south of the city are causing a massive fire at a warehouse. You see the photos there.

So let's discuss with retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. He is the former European affairs director with the National Security Council, and the author of "Here Right Matters, an American Story," and Garry Kasparov joins us. He is a member of the Russian opposition and a critic of Vladimir Putin. He's also chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and Renew Democracy Initiative, and former world chess champion. The group is holding a briefing today that will include Ukraine's foreign minister, as well as soldiers from the front lines.

Let's begin with you, Garry. Thank you both, by the way, for joining us. Respond to what is happening, Garry, if you will, around Kyiv right now, because I'm worried that Russia's brutal tactics in Mariupol, creating scenes that are already being compared to the siege of Leningrad, may be a preview of what's to come in Kyiv. What do you expect?

[10:20:00]

GARRY KASPAROV, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION MEMBER: The worst. I think Mariupol was a rehearsal or Putin's troops. They're going to do the same 10, 20 times more in Kyiv. We are witnessing now war crimes on an industrial scale. I think Europe has not seen this act of barbarism since World War II, and it's a campaign of terror. So he knows that winning the war on the battlefield is costly, so he's just targeting civilian, intentionally targeting civilian to bomb them into submission.

GOLODRYGA: I have to say, just on a humanitarian note, it is so hard, as for all of our viewers to watch this taking place in 2022, no less. Colonel Vindman, to get you to weigh in on this, you responded rather critically to President Biden's announcement and tweet that while the U.S. will defend every inch of NATO territory, we will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine, which he says will be World War III. You argue that the president is inviting disaster and emboldening Putin with this kind of rhetoric. How so?

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN, (RET) FORMER EUROPEAN AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I think he's saying the quiet part out loud. I think the actions speak for themselves. The U.S. is not interested in putting troops on the ground. The president has been crystal clear about that back in December when he made the same kind of commentary. In fact, probably drove some of Putin's decision-making about this war, recognizing that Putin wouldn't have to contend with NATO or the U.S.

I'm not sure why he feels it necessary to mention that now since there's a pretty clear signal that he's not going to do that in the first place. What it does in this moment, especially when we're talking about these chemical weapons being employed, is that it really drives this notion that Putin could take action with impunity. He doesn't have to fear of a major -- doesn't have to have the fear of a major escalation that draws in the U.S.

I think that's actually wrong because the American people won't tolerate it, and our political elites and our leadership are behind the American people in their desire to support the Ukrainian population. I don't think anybody is really interested in a war with Russia, so I'm not advocating for troops on the ground. But I'm just saying that if we don't do more now to help the Ukrainians win, we could get drawn into this eventually because of the massive atrocities that Garry is alluding to are going to get a lot worse. There are going to be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of casualties.

And I don't think that Putin is likely to use chemical weapons, but it's not beyond the pale either. He's supported the use of chemical weapons in Syria, these industrial chlorine and industrial agents that were used against the population, and sarin gas, for that matter.

GOLODRYGA: Look, we've seen it before from Vladimir Putin. So we can't expect that there will be some sort of restraint on his part. But Garry, as Alex said, there's not only support for Americans, there's support from Europeans as well to do more in aiding Ukraine. And I'm just curious as to what point this becomes an arbitrary line of what aid is allowed and what aid isn't. Are Migs allowed, OR not allowed but certain other weaponry is? And I'm asking because just this morning Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, threatened to attack western weapon shipments to Ukraine. So while the U.S. may be drawing a line here in differentiating between what that aid looks like, it doesn't appear that Russia is.

KASPAROV: Absolutely. Putin doesn't need any reason to escalate, if he wants it. And they are acting aggressively, and rhetoric is getting more and more aggressive because they -- this sense nothing but weakness. President Biden kept repeating that NATO would not be involved in Ukraine, but we would defend every inch of NATO territory. By the way, that means war with Russia, because Lithuania and Poland will be attacked by Russians.

So right now we can get engaged using air power with Putin if he wants it, by the way. So it doesn't mean that it has to be an immediate conflict. It's only if Putin's air force will engage with NATO forces, which, by the way, I'm not so sure that there many kamikazes among Russian pilots that are willing to sacrifice their lives for geopolitical ambitions of a Russian dictator.

But if we don't do it now, it will happen inevitably, but on Putin's terms, because Putin is at war with NATO. Maybe President Biden doesn't know that, maybe European leaders pretend it's not the case. He's at war with NATO, he keeps saying that. And he's now demonstrating to the world that he can do whatever, killing civilians on an industrial scale, and seeing no real consequences.

GOLODRYGA: So Garry, you've followed Vladimir Putin closer than anyone else, and you have predicted that this is exactly what he's capable of.

[10:25:03]

Given that we're now into weak two of this war, one that he expected would end in just a matter of days, given that his back is against the wall and his military isn't performing as expected, what do you see him doing next? Could this just go on for weeks and months? And at what point do you think it's inevitable that the other western countries will enter this fight?

KASPAROV: I don't know. That's another question to me, but to President Biden and other leaders, how many civilians must be killed -- by the way, we're watching this massacre live now. I don't think we ever have before. So before they decide to interfere, it's not about just legal obligations. It's about moral obligations. If we live in a time of compassion and peace and we're fighting violence, trying to reduce it. We talk about social justice, racial justice. But Ukrainians, they deserve not only just us praying for them, but help. They are doing a great job on the ground, but they cannot stop Putin's war machine because they don't have adequate air support.

And by the way, America had plenty of time to supply Ukrainians with surface to air missiles, to equip them against these air attacks. It has not been done. So much time has been wasted. Ukraine has been betrayed numerous time, after the annexation of Crimea and within the last eight years. So there's an obligation for us to intervene. Again, there is a risk. But the risk keeps growing with every day, every hour, every minute that we are evading our historic responsibility.

GOLODRYGA: And it's the human suffering that we continue to report upon and see with our own very eyes.

Alex, let me end by getting your take on what you expect during your event in just 30 minutes here where you're expected to speak with the Ukrainian foreign ministers and soldiers, Ukrainian soldiers there on the front lines.

VINDMAN: Dmytro Kuleba is a very, very capable individual. He's a former vice prime minister. He's probably one of the strongest advocates for his people, so he's going to lay out the case for why the U.S. needs to get more involved. And, again, it doesn't require necessarily boots on the ground, but just more support.

I think we have to recognize that when we stake out a claim like we will only defend Article Five, it leaves other countries like Georgia and Moldova vulnerable, the most -- the smallest countries that could be snapped up by Russia in a subsequent campaign. So this does not end with Ukraine, and I think we're going to hear some of that kind of discussion that this is about the free world and the authoritarian world. And then we have some soldiers that are going to give an on the ground assessment of what they're experiencing, including an American soldier, and American vet that's now serving in the Ukrainian military because he understands what's at stake and he wants to talk to the American public of why this is so important. It's about people fighting for their homes, but it's about people serving on the front lines and fighting for freedom.

GOLODRYGA: We're hearing more and more of that, people from other countries, right, servicemen who are now flying to Ukraine to help out there on the front lines. Alexander Vindman and Garry Kasparov, thank you both for joining us. We appreciate it.

KASPAROV: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Millions of Ukrainians have fled Russia's brutal assault, many with just what they can carry on their backs. And now groups from around the world are working to send food and supplies their way. More on those efforts up next.

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[10:33:00]

COOPER: The United Nations says that at least 2.6 million people have so far been forced to flee Ukraine since Russia invaded just over two weeks ago. And as you probably know, there's at least 2 million people who have been internally displaced within the country according to officials. They've sought safety in nearby Poland, Hungary, Moldova, those who fled, and Romania, which is where CNN's senior national correspondent Miguel Marquez has been reporting for days now. So what are you hearing from families that have left Ukraine?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That they have a lot of uncertainty ahead. Many of them think that the war will end. They think that at some point they will go home, but they have no idea when it will end. They have no idea when they will go home. So they're trying to figure out plans either to move from here in Romania to other areas. It becomes very, very complicated.

We were at a home of some Romanians that were hosting 31. In all they've seen over 60 refugees. Right now they're caring for 31, maybe 34. Three more were coming last night as we were leaving. And one of them told us that she is not sure -- she thinks she'll go home, but she's not sure what it's going to look like when she gets there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLGA BATOCHKA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: We are free people. We have a beautiful government, beautiful country, beautiful cities. Now they're all destroyed, and we have no houses. We have no families. We will start our life -- I want and believe that we will be back at home in my Kharkiv, it will be Ukrainian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now, look, for as heartbreaking as each one of these stories is, they are the lucky ones. They are in a warm place. They have plans to go onward to family in Portugal, Olga there. Everybody else that we met yesterday had plans to either stay there or go on.

[10:35:02]

But as the firing and the shelling becomes more indiscriminate, as the Russians move into more and more neighborhoods, the desperation for people moving to places like Romania and across Europe just becoming worse and worse. Anderson?

COOPER: Yes, there's no end in sight. Miguel Marquez, appreciate that so much.

There's a lot of organizations who are doing good work along the border and on the ground here. Humanitarian groups are working 24/7 to try to help Ukrainians who have been fleeing their homes as well as those staying behind. One of those groups is serving thousands, tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of hot meals at this point, at border crossings and cities on the front line.

With me now is Nate Mook, he's the CEO of World Central Kitchen founded by Chef Jose Andres. Nate, the quickness with which the World Central Kitchen has gotten established here is really quite remarkable. How many countries are you operating in, where are you operating now?

NATE MOOK, CEO, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: So we're in five countries right now, extensively along the Poland/Ukraine border, we're in Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and all throughout Ukraine. We're in about 12 cities now in Ukraine.

COOPER: And the way World Central Kitchen works is you meet up -- you basically help partners on the ground who have restaurants or kitchens to get hot meals to people.

MOOK: This is the fastest and most efficient way to tap into those existing resources. So we've got restaurants we've activated. We've got food trucks here in Ukraine, especially, because we can't get to some of those hard-hit cities. The restaurants there are able to support their communities even if we can't physically be there. We've also activated a very large kitchen in Poland right on the border with Ukraine.

COOPER: The -- you're also, I understand, getting -- you're in touch with the officials in Odessa to try to get some relief down there? MOOK: Yes, it's really a combination here in Ukraine. We're

supporting a lot of the displaced families that are coming into Lviv now in the hundreds of thousands. But there are many families that can't leave certain cities in the east. And so we're trying to get food supplies down to them. We're starting to hear of shortages. I spoke to the mayor's office in Odessa earlier. We've already seen two trucks down there to one of our restaurant partners, and we have got a very large shipment of food going down on Monday.

COOPER: That's got to be incredibly complex to try to orchestrate this.

MOOK: Yes, our team is doing incredible work with support from Ukrainians here, our team in Poland as well. It's a combination. We've got trucks coming in from Poland, we've got three warehouses set up in Lviv, and we've got this transportation system that we're building to try to get to Ukrainians really all across the country.

COOPER: A lot of people probably heard about World Central Kitchen, maybe for the first time, with the hurricane down in Puerto Rico. You went down there. That's really I think where a lot of people learned the name. How does this situation compare to other places you've operated?

MOOK: With natural disasters, generally, they've taken place and we are responding in the aftermath. This situation we're still in the middle of. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. Unfortunately, we have to be preparing for the worst even as we hope for the best, and that means potentially to be serving millions of meals here over a long period of time. So every day we're trying to adapt to the circumstances and see how we can get more food out.

COOPER: What's interesting about the model that you're using is that you're giving money to local restaurants, to chefs, to kitchens, which helps the local economy. There's ripple effects of that.

MOOK: Absolutely. So that's a key component of what we do. So as much as our partners can source locally and acquire things, that's the best way to do it. And they can keep their staff going as well. And then we can supplement that with other food or other supplies in order to make it possible.

COOPER: What are the greatest needs for World Central Kitchen right now?

MOOK: It changes daily. We're able to get certain things in. One of the biggest things is just the ability to distribute out, to go packaging for food, because families are arriving at the train station by the thousands, the tens of thousands. They haven't had a meal, so you need to hand them that meal, that hot meal, or that bowl of soup that you have to serve into. Some fresh foods are getting more difficult. Meat, things like that, are getting harder to source here, so that's why we're bringing them in from Poland.

COOPER: Where do people find out more about World Central Kitchen? MOOK: The best way is on our website, WCK.org. Follow our founder,

Chef Jose Andres, as well on Twitter, World Central Kitchen on Twitter. We're constantly sharing what's going on on the ground here.

COOPER: Nate Mook, I appreciate it. Thanks for all you're doing, really remarkable work.

There's more to talk about what is going on here. For more information about how you can help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, you can also go to CNN.com/Impact. There's a lot of information there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:44:11]

GOLODRYGA: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to call an immediate cease-fire during a 75-minute call with the Russian leader this morning. Despite the talks, the U.S. and European officials have little optimism that the diplomatic channels can deliver a way out of the conflict at this point. CNN political reporter Jeremy Herb joins me now. And Jeremy, it doesn't look like there's an end in sight here. Vladimir Putin actually accusing the Ukrainians of violating humanitarian law. You can't make this Orwellian stuff up.

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: That's right, Bianna. The bottom line here is that U.S. and European officials simply don't see a diplomatic path out of this war at this point in time. That doesn't mean there haven't been multiple channels to try to get diplomatic talks going. You mentioned the call with the German and French leaders with President Putin. That's the second time they've held a joint call with President Putin this week, and they're urging him for a cease- fire.

[10:45:07]

There also were talks between the Russian foreign minister and the Ukrainian foreign minister in Turkey earlier this week which were the highest level talks to date since the war started. Now, those talks haven't yielded any progress, including on humanitarian issues, like you said, such as establishing corridors for citizens to try to be evacuated. That simply hasn't come to fruition yet.

Now, U.S. officials are in touch with all of these countries that are trying to put these efforts together. The Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is another avenue with they're trying to -- excuse me -- he went -- he went to Moscow earlier this week to meet with President Putin and held separate calls with Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, again, trying to get a cease-fire going.

But what the U.S. officials say is they see no reason yet for them to engage directly with Russia. They're letting these other countries play out and see if anything comes to fruition. The Estonian ambassador to the U.S. Kristjan Prikk, he spoke to my colleague Jennifer Hansler earlier this week, and who asked him what leader maybe could convince President Putin to stand down from this war. And what the Estonian ambassador said was, "It's Vladimir Putin himself. It's up to him to actually acknowledge that he is committing, he is doing something that is incredibly bad for his own people and his own country, just as well as it's tragic and awful to Ukrainian people and country."

We heard this week from U.S. intelligence leaders on Capitol Hill, they said Putin miscalculated on multiple fronts when he launched this war. He thought the Russian military would be more effective. He thought his economy was better equipped to deal with sanctions. But what they also said was Putin's response to all of this is likely to escalate this war rather than try to look for a diplomatic off-ramp. In essence, he's likely to double down on the effort he's already undertaken, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, we're hearing more and more of that analysis from experts. It's just horrifying. Jeremy Herb, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And still ahead, you cannot forget this picture, a pregnant woman fleeing the horrific Russian assault on a Ukrainian hospital. We have good news. We need that. We have good news on her story. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:41]

GOLODRYGA: New this morning, the Vatican says that it will do everything possible to help broker an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine. The Vatican secretary of state said Pope Francis is available for any kind of mediation. During a phone conversation earlier this week, the Vatican pleaded with the Russian foreign minister for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine. Vatican News reported Cardinal Pietro Parolin told Sergey Lavrov that the bombing of medical centers for women and children was, quote, unacceptable no matter the reason.

Now to an incredible story of survival. It was an image seen around the world this week. A pregnant woman who survived the Mariupol hospital bombing seen here right after the blast bloodied and injured as she fled the destruction. Her name is Mariana Vishegirskaya, and she was one of at least a dozen people injured in the attack. Three people died in that attack. On Thursday she welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world in the dark of night. We see the pictures here. Her aunt tells CNN that Mariana is doing well, though they do not have electricity. She says the parents have named their baby Veronika. We hope baby Veronika will have a peaceful home country to live in and grow up in very, very soon.

In this week's Beyond the Call of Duty, a Las Vegas police officer always dreamt of having a big family, and suddenly, now he has one. CNN's Natasha Chen tells us how he went beyond the call to change the lives of five siblings.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: North Las Vegas police officer Nicholas Quintana always wanted a big family, but he and his wife never thought they would suddenly jump from having zero children to five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do or don't?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, well then, your brother will then.

CHEN: On January 14th, Quintana answered a dispatch call for shots fired at a home. One parent is alleged to have killed the other, leaving five children at the house with no one to care for them. After leaving the scene --

NICOLAS QUINTANA, NORTH LAS VEGAS POLICE OFFICER: I did something that I've never done before, and I came back to this particular incident. I told them, I said, make me a promise. I want you to promise me that you'll learn to forgive.

CHEN: Their experience is something he can relate to. His own father was killed by a relative when Quintana was just a child.

QUINTANA: It's impossible to forget things, right, especially things that hurt us most. We want that lesson to say, hey, you know what, I don't hold this against you anymore. I love you, OK, that took -- that took a long time to happen, a while to happen.

CHEN: And he felt eager to help these kids face this trauma. So after the incident, when he got off of his shift at 3:00 a.m., he couldn't wait to tell his wife he wanted to bring all five kids home.

QUINTANA: I believe God placed in my heart, and what are your thoughts on it? And her initial response was, is this a dream?

(LAUGHTER)

CHEN: She agreed to meet the children, who had a slim chance of being taken into a foster home together. When they invited the kids to live with them --

QUINTANA: The 17-year-old, she looks at me, and she says all of us? And I said, yes, I want to take every single one of you.

CHEN: An act earning the support and praise of his fellow officers and even the chief of police.

QUINTANA: You can still watch T.V., just eat right here, OK?

CHEN: Now the couple's days are filled morning to night with preparing a lot more meals, getting children to and from school and therapy appointments. Quintana says most parents have the opportunity to grow with their kids, from dirty diapers to teenage tantrums.

[10:55:04]

But learning how to be a father on the fly this past month to kids ranging from age six to 17 has been an exciting challenge.

What are you most afraid of right now?

QUINTANA: Failure. I told you before, I didn't have a father figure growing up, and I don't want to fail at it.

CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, North Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

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