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Russia Intensifies Bombardment Across Ukraine; E.U. Imposes Fourth Round Of Sanctions On Russia; Ukrainian Teachers Continue Online Learning With Students; Kharkiv Nuclear Lab Hit By Russian Shelling; Russia Relying On Less Sophisticated "Dumb" Bombs; Nigerian Students Make Harrowing Escape Across Ukraine Border; Polish Animal Rescue Center Takes In Pet Refugees; Growing Concerns Over Americans Detained In Russia; Woman Flees Kyiv, Gives Birth In New York. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 12, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I want to get straight to our breaking news.

Air raid sirens blasting through Ukraine.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In the past few hours they've gone off in both Kyiv and Dnipro, where CNN crews also heard numerous explosions and volleys of gunfire. Air raid sirens also in Lviv in the western part of the country.

Ukrainian authorities say overnight shelling caused fire and damage in the northeast part of the capital.

Now a look at this. And this is the town of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. 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. You can even see the flash of orange, apparently the muzzle flash from one of the guns.

The British ministry of defense says the bulk of Russian ground forces are around 25 kilometers from the center of Kyiv. And a number of cities are encircled and continue to suffer heavy shelling. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a new video address urges his country men and women to keep up the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The actions of the Russian invaders will be equated with the actions of ISIS terrorists. 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.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN has crews positioned around the world covering the story. This hour alone, we'll hear from correspondents in Paris, Washington, Moldova and Poland. And we begin our coverage with CNN's Salma Abdelaziz live in Lviv, Ukraine.

What's the latest?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a town that was a tourist place. It was known for coffee, for its old European style. It was a hub to come to here in Ukraine. Now it's been transformed into essentially a forward operating base. There's not a public building that hasn't welcomed civilians and families in.

Why?

Alcohol is banned in this city. Authorities say they want everyone to focus on the war effort. So restaurants, bars, they're also making meals, handing them out to families scattered across the city.

I can't express to you how it feels like this is everything about Lviv right now. You walk through any street, any town you're going to hear people on their phones, see volunteers handing out food, churches opening their doors, even camouflage for the front lines is being made right here by some volunteers.

There's sandbags outside. For the last -- now we're heading into the third week of this war -- for this last period this has felt like a safe haven. And so far it is exactly that, Kim. But over the last couple of days the war appears to be getting closer and closer.

We've seen the western offensive for the Russian military expand. More cities now being hit and struck. Here in Lviv, we've heard air raid sirens. There was an air raid siren today that woke us up in the hotel. So there's a sense across this town that the war is getting closer and closer.

BRUNHUBER: You've painted a compelling picture of a city at war. Give us a sense of the morale there amongst the people.

ABDELAZIZ: It's a very good question. Now Ukraine is a big country. There are a lot of cultural differences in this country. Sometimes you feel divides between east and west. but right now in Lviv you have people from every corner. It creates that sense of unity, that everybody is in this together.

You played that video from President Zelenskyy, that feeling we can survive, overcome this, we can triumph if we stand by each other. Everyone, and I mean everyone, Kim, has put their daily life aside to try and help those who are here in this town.

[04:05:00]

ABDELAZIZ: But again, we're stretching into the third week. We're looking at more and more ferocious and indiscriminate attacks. I'm going to give you that example of that terrible bombing on the hospital in Mariupol, where we saw pregnant ladies, newborn children being evacuated, bloodied.

And it's those type of attacks that make you feel and that make many families here feel like there's no safe place, like anywhere could be struck at any time.

So you do wonder how long can people sustain this sense of unity, sense of strength?

But also a lot of this, Kim, is on a volunteer basis. We're talking about people giving their own homes, own doors, own money.

So how long can these resources last, Kim?

BRUNHUBER: Good question. Salma Abdelaziz, thanks so much.

President Biden told CNN there would be a severe price if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine. Now he didn't elaborate further, saying he didn't wish to speak out about the intelligence. But a member of Ukraine's parliament has another concern about this conflict, the nuclear element.

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KIRA RUDYK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: We have seen people suffering from the bombarding. We have seen people suffering from starvation, from dehydration, from all the things.

So this just adds up as another threat. I am more concerned about the nuclear threat, honestly, because what we see is happening in Chernobyl station where it was disconnected from the grid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Europe's fourth round of tough sanctions has just kicked in. Russia will lose its most favored nation status in the European markets. That means no benefits from being in the World Trade Organization.

The E.U. will push to pause Russia's membership in top financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. The E.U. will also make sure Russia can't use crypto assets to get around the sanctions.

And finally Europe is halting exports of luxury goods and won't import Russian iron or steel goods. The U.S. and other G7 nations are taking similar actions. Melissa Bell joins us from Paris with a closer look at the sanctions.

Take us through what they are and what was left out. MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is, of course, the very

latest round of sanctions, the latest attempt to really bring that pressure on Vladimir Putin, on the Kremlin, to try and see what can be done to try and change the course of events as they've been unfolding over the course of the last two weeks.

You really sense that sense of urgency of global leaders. You've seen sanctions target the banking sector; that freeze, of course, on the assets of the Russian central bank; all of which have led, of course, to that collapse in the ruble, with ordinary Russians essentially seeing their wealth hove (ph) over the course of the last couple of weeks.

And, of course, that in itself brings a huge amount of pressure. And then those are those targeted sanctions by the European Union that will target the oligarchs, those who have assets here in the European Union.

Those announced last night target exporting luxury goods and look at crypto currencies and how to prevent them from being used to get around sanctions brought so far.

But the European Union is so dependent on oil and gas. What they announced in Versailles, the 27 European leaders meeting on Thursday and Friday, was they'd seek to lessen that dependency over the course of the next five years.

Already some of the sanctions brought in mean oil refining products, for instance, will not be getting in. So there will already be an impact even on that sector. Even if it is allowed for the time being to continue, Europeans will be taking to remove their dependency by then.

As you say, the main focus going forward -- and I think this is what we're going to hear about over the course of the next week -- is really targeting trade. That is Russia's ability to continue trading with partners as it has so far.

Each G7 nation has its own procedures for going about this. Removing Russia effectively from the World Trade Organization will mean for instance any Russian export will be subject to tariffs. And it will make them much more expensive, potentially unviable as exports.

And that should have a massive impact, of course, again on an already beleaguered economy. And that really is the focus for European, for American, for global leaders coming together.

Of course, Kim, it should be remembered all these various rounds of sanctions from Europe, United States, United Kingdom, who have by the way gone as far as to announce that outright ban on Russian oil, all of them have a cost, of course, for the countries imposing them.

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BELL: And if this continues and goes ahead long-term, there is a risk of deglobalization and all these supply routes being disrupted, bringing a sort of global recession on. There is a cost right now. The calculation being made by the West it is worth paying, if that pressure is brought to bear, because of what's happening on the ground in Ukraine.

BRUNHUBER: Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

So what do these developments mean in terms of wider global diplomacy?

Let's bring in Robert English, director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California and he joins us from Los Angeles.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

Do you have confidence in the ongoing diplomatic efforts?

Putin seems to favor Turkey and Israel as mediators. But even those recent talks have gone almost nowhere, I guess.

You think offers by Turkey and Israel to host Putin and Zelenskyy might actually get somewhere?

ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: For the moment, no. Ukrainians aren't prepared to concede their territory. Their demand is that the Russians cease fire and leave their country.

The Russians, the opposite; they demand that Zelenskyy be replaced, that the government capitulate and they consolidate their own imposed puppet government.

There's no meeting of the minds here. So until something changes significantly on the battlefield, that one side or the other feels compelled to make concessions, the good offices of the Turks or the Israelis won't make any difference.

BRUNHUBER: That's disappointing. As you point out, there have been so many red lines for Russia, going back to those 1997 NATO lines, the de-armament of Ukraine. All those things have led to secretary of state Antony Blinken and others saying Russia isn't serious about negotiation.

But has there been no sort of softening on any of those red lines that might indicate they're getting serious?

ENGLISH: You know, we've heard a cup of intriguing hints from both sides. Zelenskyy said the Ukrainians could reconsider their commitment joining NATO and maybe accept a non-NATO neutral status. It wasn't official proposal. It was just amusing but highly interesting, because it would be a key concession to Russia.

Russia, for their part, maybe they don't insist on Zelenskyy's removal. There's still a huge gap but those were two intriguing signs. But we're still so far from any common ground on the core issue of get out of our country versus, no, we're staying.

BRUNHUBER: What do you think will be most responsible for pushing Russia to make some concessions?

Is it on the military side, the battlefield?

Or is it the financial pressures that Melissa Bell just outlined there?

ENGLISH: I'm afraid that, on the military side, they are prepared to slog it out. They're slowly grinding forward. They're accepting very heavy losses. But they have reinforcements. They've battened down the hatches at home.

And it seems Putin can keep pushing for the foreseeable future, I mean weeks before something would have to change. The economic side is more intriguing. These sanctions are hurting Russia. And Putin has no way of shielding his people from the effect of these sanctions for long.

They will bite and they will bite hard. But Russians are a patient people. They've endured so much.

The 1990s were a disaster, right?

Much worse than anything they're facing now. And I'm worried about our economic solidarity. Your reporter, the lead-in story, correctly noted that the backlash in Europe, in other words, the negative effects of those sanctions on the Western economies, are just now being hurt, in higher fuel prices, higher commodity prices.

That means slower growth. That means maybe even recession. Supply chain interruptions have barely begun. On and on it will cascade. And the cost of 2, 3, 4 million Ukrainian refugees to house and feed, it's going to be a lot of pressure on West, especially Europeans. I'm not sure we have more endurance than the Russians.

BRUNHUBER: That's a good point. Here in the U.S., I mean soaring inflation, gas prices as well, hitting people hard, leading the Biden administration to sort of be in that uncomfortable position of cozying up to countries from which it had tried to distance itself, to a greater or lesser extent -- Venezuela, Turkey, Saudi Arabia.

ENGLISH: Good point. And that's only on account of about three- quarters, about 700,000 barrels, less than a million barrels of crude oil and crude oil products a day, that we're now stopping purchases from Russia.

[04:15:00]

ENGLISH: What about the Europeans?

These sanctions that were announced are significant. For example, steel imports from Russia will now be banned.

Guess what?

Europe imports between $5 billion and $7 billion in value of steel.

What about the $150 billion in value of oil and gas? As the European Commissioner said, they don't think they can phase that out until 2027.

Can the Ukrainians wait that long?

They could do it faster, of course, but then the disruption would be tremendous. So the interdependence is severe and very hard to disentangle. It's not just oil and gas; it's cobalt and palladium and so much more.

BRUNHUBER: As you say, who's going to blink first?

That's what it all comes down to. Robert English, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

ENGLISH: You're welcome.

BRUNHUBER: Well, school is still in session for some Ukrainian students. We'll meet two refugee teachers, who fled the country but are continuing to educate kids through remote learning. We'll look at that after the break. Stay with us.

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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.

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BRUNHUBER: Those were some Ukrainian refugees, talking about struggling with their plight. Some Ukrainian teachers are going above and beyond for the young students who are also refugees. CNN's Ivan Watson speaks to two educators leading remote classes for the children in other countries.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An all-too familiar scene for parents who lived through the COVID pandemic. NADIA PAVLENKO, UKRAINIAN TEACHER AND REFUGEE: (Speaking foreign

language).

WATSON (voice-over): Children fidgeting through a Zoom class about the solar system.

PAVLENKO: (Speaking foreign language).

WATSON (voice-over): The difference here: most of these Ukrainian school kids are refugees, reconnecting with their classmates and teacher online. In the last two weeks, the students and their teacher fled to different countries to escape Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

WATSON: How old are your students?

PAVLENKO: Seven eight.

WATSON (voice-over): From Poland, Nadia Pavlenko teaches her students online classes, even though the school stopped paying her salary.

PAVLENKO: (Speaking foreign language).

WATSON (voice-over): "None of us know what will happen next," she says.

"But these classes with my children are like a bridge to my past life in Ukraine. They help us feel connected."

War-time distance learning, there's a lot of this going on right now.

WATSON: Do you think the online classes are helping these kids?

ALEXANDER PARCALAB, UKRAINIAN TEACHER AND REFUGEE: Very much. It's helping them and mental helping to feel the routine that the life is still going on that it's not -- it's not the end of the world.

WATSON (voice-over): Alexander Parcalab is a school teacher who fled the Ukrainian city of Odessa to neighboring Moldova. In the morning, he teaches students from his Ukrainian school online.

PARCALAB: Children ask me if I'm safe, where I am, with who I am. They were asking me, before me asking them.

WATSON (voice-over): In the afternoon, he comes here, a makeshift school for Ukrainian children in the Moldovan capital.

PARCALAB: Parents asked me to make a place to feel very safety and maybe just emotionally for two hours, three hours or more, just feel --

WATSON (on camera): To escape?

PARCALAB: -- yes, to escape all this.

WATSON (voice-over): Half of his online students fled across borders. The other half are still in Ukraine. PARCALAB: The first lesson in Zoom, I said that you should be this first domino, to help somebody. Maybe your mother need help. Maybe mother's friends need help. And this is -- what can I do?

I cannot change the world. But I can change me and change, like, the mood of my mother and it will be like a domino.

WATSON (voice-over): These girls say they're looking forward to starting online classes with their Ukrainian classmates on Monday.

WATSON: Nana (ph) says she wants to find out where her classmates traveled to and to make sure that they're healthy right now.

WATSON (voice-over): Eight-year-old Timor (ph) Zhdanov and his father, Artem, stayed behind in Ukraine.

WATSON: Were you surprised when Timor's (ph) teacher said, "Hey, we're going to continue online learning?"

ARTEM ZHDANOV, FATHER OF REMOTE LEARNING STUDENT: Honestly, yes. I think that they're feeling this strong connection with Ukraine and then want to support us as much as they can. And also, a new generation of Ukrainian people.

WATSON (voice-over): A new generation that may grow up in exile, relying on technology to stay connected to their homeland -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Chisinau, Moldova.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: If you'd like to help people in Ukraine who may need shelter, food and water, please go to cnn.com/impact and you'll find several ways you can help there.

Well, they were forced to flee Ukraine after Russia launched its attack. But when these Nigerian medical students got to the border, they say they suffered discrimination. We'll speak to them after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Hundreds of people have come out to protest the detention of the mayor of Melitopol in southern Ukraine. Now the moment when armed men took the mayor away from city hall was caught on video Friday.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Have a look at this. The coastal city has been occupied by Russian troops since the early day of the invasion. Protesters later gathered near the building, chanting, "Freedom for the mayor."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, a new attempt is underway to bring food and medicine to the besieged city of Mariupol. The city council says a convoy with 90 tons of supplies is now on its way there. But there's no word on whether Russian troops will cooperate with this attempt.

And there's no radioactivity around a nuclear research lab in the Kharkiv, despite damage caused by Russian shelling. That's the word from the facility's director, who says the outside of the research center took major damage Friday.

What he told Reuters, a nuclear tank inside the lab, which contains 37 fuel cells, is fine but he says if the tank is damaged in the future, that could lead to a radioactive leak and severely harm the environment.

According to U.S. Defense officials, Russia has launched more than 800 missiles since the beginning of its invasion more than two weeks ago, largely relying on so-called dumb bombs. And as we've been seeing, these indiscriminate weapons can kill scores of civilians. CNN's Katie Bo Lillis has more.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials who are closely tracking the mix of munitions that Russia is using in its brutal assault on Ukraine says Russia is relying heavily on less sophisticated, more indiscriminate so-called dumb bombs than on precision guided munitions, weapons capable of hitting a more precise target.

It's a dynamic that U.S. and Western officials say could offer some important clues about the state of Russia's military, although they still say right now they don't know why Russia hasn't used more guided munitions.

One senior NATO official called it a big question officials are still trying to answer. There's a couple of theories here, according to sources that we spoke to. One source familiar with the intelligence told us there are some indications Russia has already burned through the proportion of its arsenal it had allocated for this conflict.

[04:30:00]

LILLIS: This could potentially bolster long standing speculation that Russia's stockpile of these weapons is relatively limited. We do know they're certainly more expensive and more complex to produce.

Another theory, according to some outside analysts, is that it's also possible Russia is simply holding inventory in reserve for later in the conflict or even as an emergency precaution, in case Russia finds itself in conflict with NATO.

It's also possible that Russia's reliance on these older, less sophisticated weapons is simply part of a deliberately brutal strategy, designed to terrorize the Ukrainian population and grind them into submission.

At the end of the day, no matter why they're using these, there's no question that the cost of this indiscriminate bombing campaign is being borne by Ukraine's hospitals, by its schools, by its apartment buildings, by Ukraine's civilians as well as its military -- Katie Bo Lillis, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia's president of war crimes over the attack of Ukraine.

But is it likely Vladimir Putin would ever face justice at The Hague? CNN's Christiane Amanpour reported from the front lines of the Bosnian War in the 1990s, helping expose the atrocities of that war. Here's what she said about Putin.

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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: You do have to prove that this was intentional. You have to prove all the way up the chain of command that these orders were given or the due consideration for civilians was not given.

And certainly in Sarajevo, in Srebrenica, in those areas, that was adjudicated. And these people were convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide and other war crimes. So they were sentenced to life in prison.

And in terms of what's happening in Ukraine, you've heard the United States, Europe, many, many countries, many leaders accusing Putin and his generals and officers of the same.

And actually an investigation is beginning. The ICC, the International Criminal Court, which Russia does not belong to, has actually started an investigation, because it was asked by 39 nations to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: More than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's brutal and unprovoked invasion began. And some foreigners have reported discrimination, as they tried to cross the nation's borders. CNN's Zain Asher spoke with two Nigerian students about their chaotic escape from the war-torn country.

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AMAMCHIM STEVE-AJUFO, STUDENT: My feet were hurting. I could barely walk. But I kept pushing every second.

ADETOMIWA ADENIYI, STUDENT: I just lost, like, hope there. I'm not going to be able to cross this.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born in Nigeria, 23-year- old Adetomiwa Adeniyi and 17-year-old Amamchim Steve-Ajufo were both studying medicine in Ukraine when Russia's invasion began. Their lives in danger, each fled to the Siret (ph) crossing on the

Ukrainian-Romanian border. They say what they experienced there was both unfamiliar and traumatic.

ADENIYI: Initially there were several lines of -- I think the best way to see it, three lines, in which there was one seemingly for the Ukrainians, one for the Indians and then the Africans were also set aside. I wondered why it should be like that. We're all trying to get out.

STEVE-AJUFO: I accidentally -- actually it was an accident on my part -- went to the Ukrainian side. Instantly, they told me to go to my side.

ASHER: Do you think that there was a level of bias or a level of discrimination, based on skin color, as to who was being treated better at the border, who was being -- you know, getting preferential treatment in terms of admittance?

ADENIYI: If you were Ukrainian, for instance or maybe another nationality but you were white, it's almost as though you got a fast track to the front of the gate.

ASHER: Growing up in Nigeria, growing up in an all-Black country, having never experienced any racism ever before, did you understand what was happening and why you were being set aside?

STEVE-AJUFO: I cried twice. I cried when I was in front and the white officials kept screaming, go back, go back. I was just so tired and I was exhausted and I cried. I cried a whole lot because I was cold and I did not understand what was going on. I wanted to give up several times but I kept reminding myself of my mom.

ASHER (voice-over): Eventually Adetomiwa and Amamchim managed to pass into neighboring Romania. Once they arrived in the capital, Bucharest, they flew back to Nigeria, a place that hadn't been their home for some time.

[04:35:00]

ASHER: Has it fully sunk in that you may not, at least anytime soon, get to go back to Ukraine?

STEVE-AJUFO: I refuse to believe it. It breaks my heart. Every time I think about it, every time I see news that somewhere else has been bombed or someone else has died, I'm angry that my home was snatched from me, that's one. And, second, I've been traumatized.

ADENIYI: It's my home, I would say. I've almost spent six years there. We don't know what's next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: There's growing concern over Americans detained in Russia. After the break, we'll get the latest on their whereabouts and their health. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)

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BRUNHUBER: Some of the most heartbreaking stories in this conflict are of innocent children ravaged by disease, who are now forced to flee the war ravaging their homeland.

Spain is now opening up its borders to care for these children fighting deadly illnesses; 25 Ukrainian children suffering from cancer were flown aboard a Spanish military plane for treatment in Madrid, along with 22 other refugees. The children will be evaluated to see if they'll stay in hospital or be moved to lodging provided by refugees.

Well, as people in Ukraine flee their homes, they have to decide whether to leave their beloved pets behind or bring them along on a difficult journey. CNN's Sara Sidner talks to an animal rescue center in Poland taking in pet refugees.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Moon. She is a survivor of war.

[04:40:00]

SIDNER: Medically, what are -- what is wrong with her?

Is she sick?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she's sick. She is in bad condition.

SIDNER: She's dehydrated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

SIDNER: She's scared.

She has lots of problems. Pancreatitis, maybe worms.

She also has a tumor that needs to be removed. But at least she's alive. Rescued from a shelter in Ukraine after the war began.

She's not aggressive or she's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SIDNER: -- just letting you do what she needs for you to do. It's OK, sweetie.

This veterinarian must poke and prod her to find out just how sick she really is.

Everything is in this dog's ear. Dirt. Wax. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You -- we must clean this ear --

SIDNER: Same.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- for seven days.

SIDNER: Seven days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SIDNER: You have to keep doing this?

The staff at the ADA Foundation treats these dogs as their own. It is a no-kill animal shelter in Przemysl, Poland. Hundreds of animals from war-torn Ukraine are being cared for here.

The humans have not slept much since the war began in neighboring Ukraine. They are just a few miles from the Polish-Ukrainian border. The staff has been driving into war torn Ukraine to save truckloads of shelter animals and pets people simply couldn't carry across the border.

In another room, more animals, different war stories.

This is Sasha. Oh. And she is from Ukraine.

A baby goat brought from Ukraine with legs that needed mending.

Who's going to be a good boy?

Who's it going to be, baby?

Sasha, is a newborn, just 7 days old. You can tell because he tries to nurse on my earlobe, biting down when no milk comes out. The doctors say without the care he got here, he would have starved to death if left alone in Ukraine.

She would've died if she wasn't here basically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. He had --

SIDNER: Oh, he would die. He would die if he wasn't here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would die.

SIDNER: The son of ADA Foundation's founder tells us Sasha was dropped off here by a woman after she escaped from Ukraine into Poland but had nowhere to take him. But she left one instruction: she will be back to get him. She loves him. He's family.

These are just two animal war stories of hundreds and more arrive every week. And every week, these animals get top-notch care. To the staff here, these war refugees are as important to care for as the human kind -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Poland.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: There are growing concerns globally over misinformation

that's coming from Russia about the war in Ukraine. This week, Russia's foreign minister even claimed the country, quote, "did not attack Ukraine." One refugee from the Ukrainian city of Sumy painted the remarkable picture about what one relative in Russia is hearing.

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DARIA MOLCHAN, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: She lives in Russia, like (INAUDIBLE). And when it started, the war, I called her and I said like, Mom, we like -- Russia, Russia attacked like Ukraine.

And she is like no, like it's not true. She is like the same thing, you know. Look this is your army making war, not ours. I said, Mom, they are bombing. You know, I'm her daughter and saying like it's crazy. We cannot live here. It's -- what is happening, it's like huge. It's war.

And she is like, until today, she don't believe me. Like, she is my mother. I am telling her what is happening. Like, that we are going to shelters, you know, we hear bombs. There is like attacks.

And she said she is -- she is not believing me. So I stopped talking to her because, like, what can -- like I can't -- if she don't believe her own daughter, she's all like totally brainwashed from TV, you know, because their TV is like all this propaganda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: As Russia's invasion of Ukraine grinds on, there's growing worry about the health and safety of three U.S. citizens currently detained in Russia. CNN's Brian Todd has the details.

[04:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New concerns tonight about the fates of three Americans being detained in Russia.

Basketball star Brittney Griner, we are now learning, has been held for three weeks, since February 17th, according to her hometown Congressman Colin Allred. She's had no access to anyone from the U.S. government, he says. It's not even clear where Griner is being held.

REP. COLIN ALLRED (D-TX): She should be allowed to come home as soon as possible and not be swept up in this larger conflict that's happening.

TODD: Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport with what Russian authorities said was cannabis oil in her luggage. They accused Griner of smuggling narcotics, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Members of Congress and veteran diplomats are worried tonight that the two-time Olympic medalist status as a star athlete might work against her, as is her sexual orientation. Griner is gay and married. Russia has very strict LGBTQ laws.

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVES FROM UKRAINE: What I would expect Russians to use the fact that her wife if making public statements and these are being reported in the media and social media as propagandization of LGBTQ plus rights, was then -- could be another crime that they could hold against her.

TODD: The parents of another detained American, former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed described themselves as panicked over his condition. Following a call with him yesterday, Reed's parents say his physical condition has taken a turn for the worse, that had already been dire.

JOEY REED, FATHER OF TREVOR REED, DETAINED IN RUSSIA: He says he is coughing constantly, coughing up blood throughout the day. Fever over 100 degrees and he has pain in his chest, just all the signs of tuberculosis.

TODD: In a new statement, Reed's parents say he was told he'd be sent to a prison hospital.

But when they were on the phone with him yesterday, he was summoned to a disciplinary commission and, quote, "We fear authorities might send him back to solitary confinement instead."

Reed and fellow former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were convicted separately for crimes they both empathically denied and have been detained in Russia since well before the invasion of Ukraine.

Whelan's sister gave a CNN a fresh clue of his condition.

ELIZABETH WHELAN, SISTER OF PAUL WHELAN, DETAINED IN RUSSIA: He is doing as well as can be expected in a forced labor camp in the middle of Russia.

TODD: Tonight, experts are openly concerned about the futures of these three Americans, given the tensions with Vladimir Putin over the conflict in Ukraine are only intensifying.

How difficult will be to get them out?

Is it even possible?

VOLKER: We are at such a different level of confrontation right now that they really are being used as pawns by Russia. He is not going to harm these three but he's not going to get them out of jail either.

TODD: Congressman Allred says Brittney Griner has been in touch with her Russian lawyer and that lawyer has been in touch with her agent and family back home and they know she is OK.

CNN has reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for information about Griner's whereabouts and her condition. We haven't heard back -- Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: For most pregnant mothers, nothing is more important than the baby's safety. After the break, you'll meet a Ukrainian mother, who not only left her country but the entire continent to make sure her baby will begin life far from war. Stay with us.

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[04:50:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Well, we've heard many stories of chaos and tragedy in Ukraine but there is hope, too. Take this, for example, a pregnant mother, two weeks from giving birth, who fled the violence in Kyiv to deliver her child in New York City. Brynn Gingras has her story.

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OLESYA OSTAFIEVA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE AND MOTHER-TO BE (from captions): We bought it here yesterday for my girl.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mom-to-be Olesya Ostafieva is in New York City after fleeing the violence in her hometown, Kyiv. She came here, looking for safety, her due date just two weeks away.

OSTAFIEVA: That's cute.

GINGRAS (voice-over): She tries to not be stressed but it's not easy, as she shows us pictures of the home she left behind.

OSTAFIEVA (from captions): Last picture from peace, life in Kyiv.

GINGRAS: This is the baby's room.

OSTAFIEVA: Yes.

GINGRAS (voice-over): It's all pink, ready for the arrival of her little girl, the balloons from her baby shower held the night before the invasion.

OSTAFIEVA: It was 5:00 am in the morning and I wake up with bomb.

GINGRAS: The sound of a bomb woke you up?

OSTAFIEVA: Yes, yes. It was shock for me. We don't -- didn't know what we can to do, what we must do.

GINGRAS (voice-over): She and her sister initially decided to stay, believing they'd be safe in Kyiv, even as they spent four nights in a bomb shelter with dozens of strangers. And she said the hospital where she planned to give birth, bombed.

OSTAFIEVA: I understand I need to move to safe place for baby born. GINGRAS: What were you feeling through all of this?

You're nine months pregnant trying to escape bombing.

OSTAFIEVA: A lot of stress. So I forgot all about al pain. I know that I need to came to border.

GINGRAS (voice-over): It took four days for the sisters to reach Poland and, with some convincing from her friend, Anna Arima, Olesya eventually came to the U.S. to give birth, bringing with her just a few newborn outfits she bought from a market in Western Ukraine.

OSTAFIEVA: So I saved these things for memory and for understanding that never again. We want peace. We want to be safe.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Olesya says that she realizes how lucky she is to be here, as so many others are left behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am OK. My name is (INAUDIBLE) --

GINGRAS (voice-over): We called her friend, who is a doctor at a maternity ward in Kyiv. He told us babies are being born daily underground in a bomb shelter. Ana and Olesya are working to help other women escape --

[04:55:00]

ANNA ARIMA, OLESYA'S FRIEND: They are in a bus now?

GINGRAS (voice-over): -- alongside the network, they say, of more than so many people who have ties to Ukraine.

GINGRAS: Do you think people like Olesya will be able to actually go home?

Do you think that actually will happen?

ARIMA (from captions): It's no other way. It's for sure it will be a victory. The only question is how expensive in terms of lives and destroyed cities and destroyed objects it's going to be.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Olesya now waits for her little baby to arrive. Despite her country at war --

OSTAFIEVA: Her room waiting for her in Kyiv.

GINGRAS (voice-over): -- she remains hopeful that she'll return to Ukraine soon and introduce her parents to their first grandchild, Kyra, a name that fittingly means "strong woman" -- Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we'll close with another glimmer of hope amid the horror. A pregnant woman who survived the Mariupol hospital bombing has given birth. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): There she was right after the blast, bloodied and injured, as she fled the destruction. She was one of more than a dozen people injured in the attack. The great news is she's given birth to a girl. In newly published photos you can see her in the hospital bed there.

And the Ukrainian ambassador announced the baby's name to the United Nations Security Council. It's Veronica.

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BRUNHUBER: We wish Veronica peace above all, of course.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more broken news coverage right after the break. You're watching CNN.