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Russia Intensifies Bombardment across Ukraine; Somber Funerals Held for Fallen Ukrainian Soldiers; Over 2.5 Million Have Fled Fighting in Ukraine; Volunteers Work to Free Those Trapped Near the Front Line; U.S. Warns Russia over Possible Chemical Weapons Use; Russia Blocks Independent Media, Limits Press Freedoms; Price of Crude Oil Down Over 5 Percent for the Week; Deutsche Bank Reverses Course, Closing Business in Russia. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 12, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Hala Gorani, coming to you live from Lviv, in Ukraine.

Well, there is growing evidence that the Russian bombardment of Ukraine is intensifying. In the past few hours, air raid sirens have gone off in Kyiv. CNN crews have heard numerous explosions as Russian troops try to make inroads on the Ukrainian capital.

And then, there is this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI (voice-over): This is the town of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. You see it there on the video. Heavy shelling, as one official there describes it; indiscriminate shooting at civilian targets, including a cafe and an apartment building.

And there is new satellite imagery of Russian artillery units 18 miles northwest of central Kyiv. They are in a field outside of a nearby village. You can even see the flash of orange, apparently the muzzle flash from one of the guns.

Now in Kharkiv, which for days has seen relentless shelling and missile strikes -- here we are talking about the eastern part of the country. The mayor says 48 schools have been destroyed along with numerous apartment blocks but the core part of a nuclear research facility somehow escaped serious damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYKOLA SHULGA, DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL SCIENCE CENTER (through translator): The territory of the National Science Center has already been hit by several shells launched from the Russian side. Thank God the core part of the facility has not been damaged. But what happened around the institute is clearly a major destruction. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, and as Russian airstrikes continue across Ukraine, the president of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, issued a new video address, defiant, urging his countrymen and women to keep up the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today, everyone is gaining glory for Ukraine and his or her place shows the world who Ukrainians are and what strength we have. Hold our ground. Hold on. We will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Russia's onslaught has now taken a new turn as we have been seeing. It's been opening fronts in parts of the country that, so far, have escaped much of the violence, the strikes and the artillery attacks. CNN's Oren Liebermann has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Russian military is expanding its invasion of Ukraine, increasing its attacks on the western part of the country.

Fire and smoke seen in the aftermath of strikes on airfields near the Polish border. It's a scene that played out in cities all across the country, as Russia unleashed a barrage of attacks in the early morning hours.

In the central city of Dnipro, fire poured out of a destroyed factory, the rubble littering the ground and another strike near a preschool and an apartment building.

In Chernihiv, an isolated city north of Kyiv, an explosion destroyed a soccer stadium and a nearby library. This crater shows the force of the impact.

In Izya city, near the border with Russia, a strike destroyed a home for the disabled, many of whom are elderly. And there is growing evidence that the town of Volnovakha in eastern Ukraine has fallen to Russian forces and their separatist allies. Russian troops are seen running through the decimated streets.

Russia has falsely accused the U.S. of supporting experiments in Ukraine with biological and chemical weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it's a sign Russia itself intends to use such weapons.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This makes me really worried because we've been repeatedly convinced, if you want to know Russia's plans, look at what Russia accuses others of. LIEBERMANN (voice-over): President Joe Biden didn't go as far as drawing a red line on the use of chemical weapons by Russia, but he didn't issue this threat.

BIDEN: I'm not going to speak about the intelligence, but Russia would pay a severe price if he used chemical weapons.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The Russian advance is closing in on Kyiv. It is slow progress against a fierce Ukrainian resistance that has turned the capital city into a fortress. The Pentagon says one Russian approach to the city is about 10 miles outside the city center.

The convoy of Russian tanks stalled outside Kyiv for days has now largely dispersed but it is unclear what the movement means for the capital -- Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[00:05:00]

GORANI: And let's bring in CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Thanks for being with us.

What do you make of these Russian strikes and the increased Russian military advances into Western Ukraine?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I -- it was a minimal strike, Hala. I think what we are talking about is three or four cruise missiles on that airfield. And truthfully, I can't make anything of it. It is very confusing to me from an operational or strategic perspective.

You know, the city of Lutsk that they hit this morning was -- is -- an old, historic city. It has about 200,000 population. The only thing I can figure is that the Russians thought that it might be able to disrupt both the refugees going out and potentially NATO lethal aid coming in.

But I -- I think -- I believe the real rationale behind it is to just continue the terror to show Ukraine -- Ukrainians throughout the country that Russia is hitting everywhere. It just doesn't make sense from a military perspective. Again, none of these strikes against cities do make sense because none of them are military targeting.

GORANI: Similarly, in Dnipro, as well, which hadn't been hit, a shoe factory, an apartment block, a school.

I mean, it does remind me a little bit of what the Assad regime, with the help of Russians, did in Syria, where it was really terror from the skies, aimed at frightening civilians and diverting sort of military resources to dealing with civilian casualties.

HERTLING: Yes. I -- I -- I completely agree with you. This has become the Russian way of war. The Dnipro strike, I think, is a little bit different than the Lutsk strike, because you see that town of Dnipro, halfway between Mariupol and Kharkiv.

And I think what part of the original plan in that secondary effort was to do a surrounding and envelopment movement for the Ukrainian forces in -- in the Donbas. But they haven't executed that plan very well. They are still stalled in -- in and around Kharkiv -- I'm sorry -- and Mariupol is just become a -- a scorched Earth city right now.

You're exactly right, that I think the Russian forces did not come into this fight with enough ground forces to truly occupy any of the places they thought were their main objectives.

So what they've done is they have reverted to the same kind of tactics that they used in Idlib and other places within Syria where they bomb cities, cause the refugee flow and then bomb the next cities that those refugees go to. It's a -- it's a rinse-and-repeat kind of tactic, which is just incredibly horrific.

GORANI: And what about Kyiv?

So we are seeing that column of armored vehicles, that was static for several days, disperse and regroup.

What -- what do you -- I mean, what are your expectations?

I know it's very difficult to predict the future.

But your expectations for what the Russians may have planned for the capital, itself?

HERTLING: Well, what they've planned and what they have executed so far is very disconnected. Those three columns of Russian vehicles coming in from the northwest, the north and from the east out of -- out of Kharkiv and Sumy have been stalled by Ukrainian fighters and the territorial units.

I -- I -- I think what we haven't seen is a whole lot of movement in either one of those three columns over the last four days. I think that's partly because they have had some major problems with the tactical units themselves.

But they have also had unbelievably poor logistics support. And those logistics columns have been trapped both from the north and the south. And Ukrainian fighters are reportedly piecemealing, destroying those -- those columns.

One of the things I have seen today, Hala, which I find very interesting, is in pictures of Ukrainian fighters, that both the army and the territorial forces, every single soldier you see walking on the battlefield has not only their rifle but also some type of anti- tank weapon.

Every single one of them has either an AT-4 or -- or a Javelin across their back. I think that is critically important. They also have night-vision goggles, which the Russians don't have. So they're taking this fight full-time to the Russians. And I think the Russians are suffering, not only with bad tactics but very poor morale right now. GORANI: But they are suffering but then they are using those aerial

bombardment tactics on, as we mentioned, Lutsk, for instance; this is kind of a head-scratcher.

But can the Ukrainians resist here?

Because it is a very tough battle against a very powerful military, even if they have made tactical and strategic mistakes.

[00:10:00]

HERTLING: I think they've made more than just mistakes. This has been -- the Russian army has shown their incompetence at both the operational and tactical level across the board. They have had three generals killed within a two-week period of time, trying to lead from the front, because the junior leaders aren't doing it.

They seem to have a plan to insert a second echelon, which has always been a Russian doctrinal tenet. But no second echelon has come because they can't even get the supply lines in. And they have already put the majority of their forces inside the country.

I truly believe, whereas it appears that Russia is a very well- equipped army, their training and their leadership is horrible and, whereas, the Ukrainian army may not be as strong in terms of equipment and devices, they are getting a lot of support from their allies and friends. And they have the will to fight.

I think when you combine the quantity -- or the quality -- the quantity of the force versus the will of the other force, you are going to see a mismatch and a disconnect. And I think Ukraine -- the Ukraine army has really taken it to them right now.

GORANI: Right. And as you mentioned, they have much heavier weaponry this time around. Thanks very much, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, always a pleasure speaking to you. We'll be in touch in the coming hours.

Well, that is obviously the military angle. But at this hour, there is another angle to explore: a fourth round of European Union sanctions against Russia has been implemented.

E.U. leaders at a summit in France say the aim is to further isolate the country and drain the resources that it is using to wage war against Ukraine. Now among the tougher measures, Russia will lose its most favored nation status in European markets. That means no benefits from being on the World Trade Organization, among other things.

Russian membership rights in the top financial institutions are gone. This includes the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The E.U. will also make sure that Russia cannot use cryptocurrencies to get around the sanctions. That's very important, obviously, these days. Crypto is used a lot to circumvent official financial institutions.

And finally, Europe is halting the exports of luxury goods and will not import Russian iron or steel products. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, says this could be just the beginning. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): We are willing to adopt other sanctions. And all options are on the table. The point of our discussion is to order -- to prepare ourselves for these sanctions if they were able to call a halt to the attack and the aggression.

And could prepare us, also, for the consequences in the coming weeks and months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, G7 nations also announced they'd move to revoke Russia's most favored nation status. And in the U.S., this measure requires an act of Congress. And President Biden called on lawmakers to do just that.

Biden says the U.S. would ban the import of Russian vodka, diamonds and seafood. So the Western countries there really waging an economic war against Russia.

And amid the fighting, funerals are being held to honor the lives of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. Several families gathered right here in Lviv -- the city I'm broadcasting from -- gathered Friday to say goodbye to their loved ones. It was a very emotional and somber set of ceremonies. Here's Atika Shubert.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The coffins of Senior Soldier Andrii Stefanyshyn, Senior Lieutenant Taras Didukh and Sergeant Dmytro Kabakov were carried into the Garrison Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv.

Even in this sacred space, the war intrudes: an air raid siren barely audible under the sound of prayer and weeping. Everyone is asked to stay inside for safety and mourners held captive to their grief.

The Ukrainian military does not give out the number of its soldiers killed, though the Ukrainian defense minister says that military casualties are much lower than the civilian death toll.

Details of how and where these soldiers died are kept secret. That they were killed in the opening days of the war is all the families know.

After the service, Myroslava Stefanyshyn struggles to articulate her loss.

"Two days into the war and my kid was gone," she says, "unspeakable regret, longing, heartache, I cannot bear it. I feel so awful that I cannot find the words to explain it to you," she says, hoping that her son's sacrifice and so many others' will be enough --

[00:15:00]

SHUBERT (voice-over): -- Atika Shubert, for CNN, in Lviv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: All right. Do stay with us. We continue our breaking news coverage of Russia's war on Ukraine after a quick break.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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GORANI: People fleeing the fighting in Ukraine are facing some harsh freezing temperatures as they try to escape. In Romania, for instance, Red Cross volunteers were afraid some of the refugees that you see here crossing the Danube might be suffering from frostbite as they made their way to safety.

More than 2.5 million people have fled since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine more than two weeks ago now. According to the United Nations, Poland has received the majority of those refugees, more than 1.5 million crossing the Polish border.

[00:20:00]

GORANI: Many who have made this terribly grueling journey just want the fighting to be over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have like only one desire, that everything -- I want everything to finish as soon as possible and it's like, to live in peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My favorite country is Ukraine. We were under bombardment there, heavy bombardment. We did not ask for that. We had a good life. We do not know what they want from us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, not everyone who wants to flee Ukraine is able to leave. Many are trapped and have no way of getting out after being cut off by the devastation wrought by Russian shelling.

So volunteer armies, with little or no experience in a war zone, are putting their lives on the line to help those in need get to safety. CNN's Clarissa Ward has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIA LARSON, UKRAINIAN CITIZEN: My name is Natalia Larson. I'm from Ukraine. But last five years I live in United States. My mama, she is still in Irpin --

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An impassioned plea sent to us on Twitter by a daughter desperately trying to track down her mother.

LARSON: My mama doesn't have connection. I cannot call her. I didn't hear from her a few days. She is by herself in our apartment. Please, I beg you, Clarissa, you are my last hope.

WARD (voice-over): That message brought us back to this spot, the destroyed bridge, where brave volunteers continue to ferry out civilians who have been trapped in Ukraine for more than 10 days. We've been told they may be able to help find Natalia's mother. On our way to meet them, we hear a familiar accent.

DWIGHT CROW, VOLUNTEER: Only English.

WARD (voice-over): Dwight Crow has flown here from San Francisco to help in any way he can. Less than a week after arriving he is embedded with Ukrainian volunteers and now spends his days helping Irpin's most vulnerable escape.

CROW: When I saw the invasion, I honestly bought a plane ticket and got here as quick as I could. This feels like the biggest fight for freedom I've seen in my lifetime.

WARD: Have you ever been in a war zone before?

CROW: Not like this.

WARD: For most Americans, this would be a little out of their comfort zone.

CROW: This is a little out of my comfort zone. It's scary when you hear the bombs going off at the same time, you just there's people a lot closer to it than us and they're really the ones in harm's way and we're just doing our part to get him out of here.

WARD (voice-over): Lawyer Daria and her team risked their lives every day to do just that. She speeds through the deserted streets, looking for those who are stranded and need help. She's agreed to add Natalia's mother to the list.

WARD: So Daria, are you not afraid to do this?

DARIA PISARENKO, VOLUNTEER: I'm afraid of course. I don't have a child yet. And I understand that I can help people.

WARD (voice-over): They reach the first stop. Shelling can be heard in the distance and they need to move quickly.

WARD: You can feel how this place is completely deserted. It's like a ghost town.

WARD (voice-over): "Is the owner here?" they shout.

The team consults their list to check the address.

WARD: (Speaking foreign language)

WARD (voice-over): No one answers and it's time to move on. In less than two weeks, Daria has seen the pleasant suburb of Kyiv where she lives turned into a warzone.

WARD: Does it make you angry?

PISARENKO: Yes, I'm angry. And I think it's OK. I'm angry to all the Russian people to all Russian people. Because silence it's also violence now. You are with Ukraine or with Russia.

WARD (voice-over): We recognize the next stop. It's the address we've been searching for. But the first glance is troubling.

WARD: So this is the apartment complex where Natalia has told us that her mother lives. I'm just a little bit concerned because I can see there's some damage up there, presumably from artillery.

WARD (voice-over): Team member Anton enters one of the buildings, who is waiting for evacuation, he shouts. But there is no reply. And Natalia's mother is no way to be seen.

There is just a handful of people still living here with Mila and her husband tell us they chop wood in the forest and burn it to stay warm.

WARD: (Speaking foreign language).

So she's saying that there's no water. There's no gas, there's no electricity. They cook their meals out here on an open fire.

[00:25:00]

WARD (voice-over): Yet they refuse to leave.

"Where would we go?

"We don't have anywhere to go," she says.

"Whether they kill us here or there doesn't matter.

"When will these monsters leave?"

Across the road, Daria urges another couple to evacuate. But it's another, no. They've made it this far and are willing to see it through. The team has found one man, Ole, (ph) who wants to get out. He bundles into the improvised rescue vehicle and sets off beyond the smash windscreen that lies the relative safety of Kyiv center.

Back at the bridge, he tells us about his ordeal. It was an awful frightening situation there, he says. They shelled us 24 hours a day. The rest of his family is in a city now held by Russian forces in the South. I don't know where I live anymore, he says before bidding us goodbye. It's time to head back our mission unfulfilled. We haven't found Natalia's mother. But as we get closer to the city center, our cell phone signal returns.

WARD: So we have just had some great news from Natalia. She tells me that a few hours ago, her mother was successfully evacuated from Irpin by one of the volunteers. Yet another family saved by ordinary citizens doing extraordinary work -- Clarissa Ward, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, unfounded accusations over alleged chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine lead to a tense moment at the Security Council.

While the American president has a warning for Moscow, if it decides to use those kinds of weapons. That's ahead.

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[00:30:00]

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GORANI: Welcome back to everyone watching us around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani.

The latest on Russia's war on Ukraine: Russia is expanding its invasion of this country, striking multiple cities that have not seen much fighting until now. That includes this airstrike in the Western city of Lutsk Friday, where an airport was damaged. Officials say two people killed there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI (voice-over): Ukraine is lashing out at the arrest of one of its mayors, which was caught on video. You can see it on the top of your screen. The mayor of Melitupol was taken away by a group of armed men on Friday.

And a pro-Russian prosecutor later said the mayor is under investigation for possible terrorism charges. But President Zelenskyy said it's Russia who is acting like a terrorist group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (from captions): The actions of the Russian invaders will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Ukraine called the arrest an abduction that constitutes a war crime.

In Washington, meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden is warning there will be a price to pay if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine. And that warning came after the U.S. and Ukraine said Moscow may be preparing to deploy those weapons while falsely accusing Kyiv of planning to do that.

Nina dos Santos has more but we want you to know that some images in this report that you are about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 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 ground work 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 use 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 chemical weapons warfare on innocent civilians in large numbers, have we?

ROTH: It hasn't done that so far but this is not beyond the realm of possibility.

DOS SANTOS: What weapons does Moscow have?

No one knows exactly. There's no evidence Russia used more common chemical weapons like chlorine and sarin, all are banned internationally for their cruelty.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia will pay a severe price if they use chemical weapons.

DOS SANTOS: That price not yet clear, though.

How do you think the world would react?

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

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

[00:35:00]

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: 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 VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, to warfare now on a digital front. U.N. human rights experts say they are alarmed by the severe clampdown on information within Russia. The echo of Moscow radio network was one of the few independent media outlets left in Russia until taken off the air last week.

Karina Orlova was one of its correspondents and she joins me now, live, from Washington.

Karina, thanks for being with us.

So what are ordinary Russians exposed to on their TVs, as they listen to their radios?

People have the internet now. So presumably, they are able to access independent news platforms.

But by and large ordinary Russians, what kind of info are they getting?

KARINA ORLOVA, JOURNALIST: Hi. Thanks for having me. So unfortunately, they hear only the propaganda. It's everything was shut down that could be shut down. Some Western media, like BBC, Russian service and others, they had to stop their operations in Russia in fear for persecution of their journalists.

Because now you can be imprisoned up to 15 years for spreading so- called fakes about the war, which you can not even call a war; it is officially a special military operation. So that's also a fake.

And this law has been a retroactive action so it could and will be applied to everything that you have said before this -- this law.

So yes, it's -- it's all total propaganda. But the internet still works also. There are some problems with that, too. But Russians seek information and they do. You know?

They do find information, for instance, about-- economic hardship and about ruble falling down. And we went to the ATMs massively. And now there are huge lines. People stand in line for up to six hours to buy a ticket on Turkish airlines. You cannot do that online --

(CROSSTALK)

GORANI: Karina, I am going to just jump in just in case our viewers are wondering what they are hearing here. This is an air raid siren that is going off right now. And this is signaling that the emergency is over.

Is that right?

OK. I just wanted our viewers to not worry too much that there was an air raid siren going off and that I was still seated here in front of the camera.

But let me ask you a little bit about sort of the younger crowd that has access to the internet. I mean, we've have heard even from prominent Russian sports people and -- and actors and public figures, who have spoken out against this war on Ukraine.

Is that getting through at all inside Russia?

ORLOVA: Well, I think that the more people who suffer economically, the more they will speak, because in -- in -- in the first days of the war, you know, the vast majority of Russians were supportive of Putin and supportive of this war. So they couldn't care less about the actual war.

Now that ruble has fallen twice -- so now cost half as much as it was -- and it will go -- it will keep going down inevitably. And now that all the major American and European companies have left Russia, now people start to realize that something is really off.

And that's when, you know, when you can hear this prominent Russian propagandist -- actually he is one of the top Russian TV anchors. And his two villas in Italy have been seized by Italian authorities. And -- you know, he has been fully sanctioned.

And now, he is apparently expressing some anger or some frustration over what's going on. But again, he only cares about it because he, personally, was targeted financially. And he's, you know, in our place right now. And I think that that's what's going to push Russians to protest.

GORANI: Sure. So let's talk about these protests, because these sanctions are obviously hitting rich Russians. But they are hitting ordinary Russians as well. And the way the Kremlin is framing it is, look, here is another Western attack on Russian -- on ordinary Russian people.

But are they able to make the distinction that what Western countries is -- are doing right now is implementing these economic sanctions to -- to -- to pressure Russia into retreating militarily from Ukraine?

Are -- are they making that distinction?

[00:40:00]

ORLOVA: Well, I think they are and they are not. Of course, Russia is telling them that it's the West that is attacking Russia. Of course.

But when it is so bad -- and it will be really soon, right -- the sanctions are not only targeting rich Russians, because, for instance, a Russian car -- auto -- automaker, carmaker, had to stop production because there are no more details, foreign parts, that they use. And that's -- you know, how it works.

And also, the prices are going up. And that affects everybody, especially, you know, lower middle class, because, for them, it's a very -- it's a drastic increase, you know, in prices. So it's not only for -- for the rich Russians.

I'd say that rich Russians, of course, suffer but at least they still have some money. The lower middle class, they don't have any savings or anything. So the sanctions will target them a little bit later.

And when it is really bad, I think people -- I'm sure, as it always happened in Russia -- people could not -- will not be -- will not care about who caused them, you know; they will certainly blame the government, which is the right thing to do.

GORANI: Karina Orlova, thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate your -- your take and your analysis on this breaking news story. Thank you.

Now more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine. After the break, my colleague, Paula Newton, has the story of one volunteer, who opened her home to many refugees. We'll be right back.

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[00:45:00]

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, I am Paula Newton and we continue with our breaking news coverage; 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. That is according to the United Nations. Now it is, in fact, the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II and it isn't over yet.

Many are pouring into neighboring countries like Romania. CNN's Miguel Marquez is in the capital, Bucharest, speaking to people, who are now opening their homes to these refugees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are many normal everyday Romanians who have stepped up to the call. We are in a house south of Bucharest. They've taken in -- right now, they have 31 people living here.

I just want to give you -- this is a good example of how many people -- these are the shoes, for some, most of the people that are here, many of them are out doing other things right now. They have cared for about 61 people in all over the last few weeks. They have three more refugees coming tonight.

And it's Alina Greavu, who is a sort of an organizer here in Bucharest.

You are doing this?

What -- tell us where we're standing. This is the entryway to this house with the coats, all these donations.

What are we looking at here?

ALINA GREAVU, ROMANIAN HOSTING REFUGESS: You're looking at our house that my husband and I decided to sell last year. We moved to Bucharest to be closer to the kindergarten and it was empty.

And when everything started in Ukraine, we said, why don't we use the house that's empty to host people during this crisis?

MARQUEZ: So now you have 31 people here right now. You have a -- you have volunteers.

How many volunteers does it take?

How much effort does it take to keep 31 people, 31 refugees kind of up and going?

GREAVU: We have over 80 young people on our WhatsApp group. Yes, some of them come here every day. Some of them sleep here at night. Some of them just help us online. And I don't know, it's a huge effort, mostly because we don't speak Russian so we need a couple of people who can help us with that.

Some of them have -- need special attention. They have certain issues with their papers, they -- their diseases and stuff like that.

MARQUEZ: There's one woman who has cancer who now you're helping sort out a surgery for her here.

GREAVU: Yes, one of the volunteers who also speaks Russian is helping her in medical controls because she -- I think she might get a surgery in Romania because, in Kiev, it couldn't happen.

MARQUEZ: And how concerned are -- you are Romanian, how concerned are you, your husband?

You see what's happening right across the border. You're hearing -- they're hearing some of the firepower now on the west side of Ukraine.

How concerned are you about what's happening at your doorstep?

GREAVU: You know that old saying like carpe diem, which is like just live in the moment?

MARQUEZ: Seize the day.

GREAVU: Or seize the day?

Yes. We don't want to be to be thinking about what could happen in Romania. So we'd rather keep ourselves busy. That's helping these people. We know that it's a very fragile moment and anything can happen. We would rather not think about --

MARQUEZ: And try and not think -- focus on the positive.

How long is this sustainable?

GREAVU: Maybe for like half a year, considering our donations and the fact that we don't have to pay rent. We just have to pay the utilities and people keep helping us with food. And they donated us medicine and clothing and diapers and everything we need.

MARQUEZ: Amazing. And ALUZIVA is the name of the organization, A-L-U- Z-I-V-A.

You can find them if you search them, correct?

GREAVU: Yes.

MARQUEZ: Very good luck to you. You have your work cut out for you. And they're still coming.

Three more refugees coming this evening.

No end to it.

This is all free as well to them, correct?

GREAVU: We have a lot of mattresses. And we can --

MARQUEZ: Are you --

GREAVU: -- put even more.

MARQUEZ: -- are you considering bunk beds?

GREAVU: But we just -- yes, we just didn't want to crowd people. We still wanted them to have a bit of privacy and like a square meter around their beds, not to feel very crowded.

MARQUEZ: Thank you very much. And this is happening here. It's happening in homes throughout

Romania, hotels. It is happening in homes all over Europe right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Our thanks to Miguel Marquez there.

The United Nations says nearly 85,000 refugees from Ukraine have fled to Romania. That is Romania, alone, a country of 20 million people. And as I was saying earlier, it is not over yet. We will be right back in a moment with more news.

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NEWTON: So it is definitely too early to say that relief is on the way for Americans and others paying record-high gasoline prices but here's what happened this week.

The price of crude oil fell 5.5 percent. Now it is still hovering around 14-year highs. That's for some context. And the weekly decline has been driven in part by those tentative signs of more supply that may be coming from OPEC.

Germany's Deutsche Bank announced Friday it is planning to shut down its business in Russia. The move comes a day after Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan revealed plans to wind down their operations.

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NEWTON: In 2017, Deutsche Bank was hit with more than $600 million in penalties over a multibillion-dollar Russian money-laundering scheme. A reminder that Deutsche Bank was one of the original banks offering its services in Russia.

Now you see it there. Those are just some examples of the dozens of companies that have abandoned or scaled back their operations in Russia. As you can see, the companies range from airlines like Delta to food chains like McDonald's, entertainment sites like Netflix and even, of course, those social media companies, those like Twitter.

The expanding exodus affects every corner of the economy and it will continue.

Now I want to close with what is a glimmer of hope amid the horror. A pregnant woman who survived the Mariupol hospital bombing has now given birth.

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NEWTON (voice-over): Here you see her right after the blast. She is bloodied and injured as, of course, she fled the destruction. This photo and others illustrating the barbarity of the war currently at this hour underway in Ukraine.

She is one of more than a dozen people injured in that attack. Three people including a young child were in fact killed. The great news is that she has given birth to a baby girl. You see the picture there, she's being cradled by her father in those newly published photographs there, holding that baby. The Ukrainian ambassador announced at the U.N. Security Council the baby's name is Veronica.

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NEWTON: That does it for this hour. I'm Paula Newton. We continue with our breaking news coverage after a quick break.