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Russian Missiles Hit Military Base Near Lviv; Biden Approves Another $200 Million For Ukraine Military Aid; Former Ukrainian President: We Are Not Giving Up; Experts Alarmed By Russian Moves Near Nuclear Plants; Protests Across The World Supporting Ukraine; E.U. Leaders Ask Putin For Immediate Cease-Fire; Russians Call Ukrainian Hotline Looking For Lost Troops; Lawmakers Push For Release Of Wnba Star Detained By Russia. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired March 13, 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian officials tell us Russian forces fired eight missiles near the city, several strikes hitting the International Peacekeeping and Security Center. The military base is located outside Lviv, very close to the Polish border.
Right now, officials say they're looking into any casualties. We're also learning that airstrikes have almost completely destroyed the infrastructure at an airport in a different part of Western Ukraine.
It comes as Russian troops are intensifying attacks across the country. Video from a village outside Kyiv shows the town virtually obliterated by Russian strikes.
On Saturday, we also learned that seven civilians were killed while trying to flee a different village near the capital. In all, the U.N. says at least 5,079 civilians, including 42 children, have been killed since the invasion started but cautioned the actual number is likely much higher.
New developments in the southeastern city of Melitopol. CNN's has learned a new mayor has been installed, which is under Russian control. We previously reported that the city's elected mayor, who defied the Russians, was seized by armed men. Meanwhile, efforts to evacuate citizens continued Saturday.
The government said close to 13,000 people were evacuated. In all, nearly 2.6 million refugees have now fled the fighting in Ukraine. This as Ukraine's president urged citizens to keep up the fight as Russia's invasion grinds on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have to stand firm and keep on fighting. Every night and every day we should be fighting for ways to destroy, to harm the enemy, in all the directions.
We will achieve and we will reach what's ours so that all the occupiers and all the collaborators will know that Ukraine will not forget, never, nothing. Ukraine will not forget. Ukraine will find them and will call them to responsibility, each one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: CNN has correspondents positioned around the world covering the story from every angle, including reports this hour from Melissa Bell in Paris, Arlette Saenz in Washington and Nina dos Santos in London. Let's start with CNN's Salma Abdelaziz live in Lviv.
And we've been seeing attacks intensifying, including in the west, very near you.
What's the latest?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we're just on the outskirts of Lviv, Kim. And this is a place that refugees fled to, that they got away from places that were dangerous, thinking that it was a safe haven.
But many people woke up this morning to the sound of bombardment. We've heard again from Ukrainian authorities, a major base just outside of Lviv, one that's been used for peacekeeping operations, for military training, one where American soldiers have held joint exercises in with their Ukrainian allies, that base was struck today by Russian missiles, we understand again, from Ukrainian officials.
It's unclear what infrastructure damage there is, if any at all, what casualties there may be. Ukrainian authorities working to find that out.
But it comes as news of yet another location, an airport also in the west struck. This comes after Friday. We saw Lutsk, an area just 70 miles, 110 kilometers from the Polish border, also hit.
All of this, Kim, is extremely worrying. First, from the humanitarian perspective, because this is the area that's been considered safe, where refugees can come to and find relative safety. And secondly, of course, it shows just how expansive this Russian offensive is becoming, really stretching from both sides of the border, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. So now, the U.S. is sending in more aid.
What more can you tell us about that?
ABDELAZIZ: So this is key. The U.S. is announcing immediate aid, $200 million worth of education, training but also, just reading it off here, it's going to include anti-armor, anti-aircraft systems and small arms support for front line defenders.
The U.S., of course, says this is going to happen as quickly as possible. They want to provide that support to their allies. But here's the concerning part. This comes as Russia says it could target foreign weapons shipments.
It could consider any convoys carrying weapons to the Ukrainian military to be legitimate targets. So all of that increases fears that there could be a direct confrontation. And again, we just talked about these military bases, that key military base just outside of Lviv, that has been hit today.
How do the Ukrainian authorities begin to shuttle these shipments in, get these weapons, get the aid they need, the training they need, if airstrikes are happening here?
BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much, Salma Abdelaziz, really appreciate it.
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BRUNHUBER: As the fighting grinds on, we've seen Ukrainians from all walks of life taking up arms to defend their country. Among them, Sviatoslav Yurash, the youngest member of Ukraine's parliament. He spoke to my colleague, Hala Gorani, about how he's been forced to quickly learn how to become a soldier. Here he is.
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SVIATOSLAV YURASH, UKRAINIAN MP: We cleared all the incursions we've had in the city in the first week.
Now we are basically fighting on the outskirts of the city, trying to keep the western supply routes open, trying to prepare our capital for whatever comes. Again, it is our capital. It is the foundational city for our history. We cannot give up on it in any way.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: You're a politician.
Have you ever handled a weapon?
Were you in the military?
Or is this your first time?
YURASH: I'm by no means a soldier. I'm a rudimentary soldier at best, trying to learn skills of soldiering every single day with various people, that I try and work with in different military units. But the point is that we are organizing. We are organizing in every way we can to try and resist the Russians and whatever they throw at us.
GORANI: What is it like, going from just living a pretty ordinary civilian life to, suddenly, becoming the defender of your land in an existential battle, really?
YURASH: Well, it's not so much a choice as a reality. We are fighting against second biggest military in the world and that wants to destroy our nation, our country. The point here is that, again, we are by no means at a point of a choice.
We have to become and learn to be those soldiers that we were not just two weeks ago because, again, it is battle for our very existence, for our very independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: That was Ukrainian parliamentarian Sviatoslav Yurash there.
Earlier, Ukraine's former leader, Petro Poroshenko, spoke with CNN. He said that Vladimir Putin has vastly underestimated Ukraine and overestimated his own forces. Here he is.
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PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: That was Ukraine's former leader, Petro Poroshenko there.
Now here in the U.S., President Biden just authorized additional military aid for Ukraine after responding to urgent pleas from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. CNN's Arlette Saenz reports.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the war in Ukraine in its third week, U.S. President Joe Biden ramping up the pressure on Russia.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Putin is an aggressor. He is the aggressor. And Putin must pay the price.
SAENZ: Today the president directing the State Department to draw down $200 million in the defense services for Ukraine.
And an administration official saying this will include anti-armor, anti- aircraft systems and small arms. As Russia warns the U.S. that convoys of foreign weapons would be considered legitimate targets, Biden sending a warning of his own to Russia.
BIDEN: I'm not going to speak about the intelligence but Russia would pay a severe price if they use chemicals.
SAENZ: But the president remains adamant American troops will not fight in Ukraine on the ground or in the skies.
BIDEN: We will not fight a third world war in Ukraine. SAENZ: The leaders of France and Germany today speaking with Russia's Vladimir Putin, urging an immediate cease-fire. But Russia's bombardment of Ukraine is not letting up. Russian forces are closing in on Kyiv, with the British intelligence assessment finding the bulk of Russian ground forces located about 15 miles from the capital.
Thirty miles west of Kyiv the village of Makariv sustaining wide damage, a gaping hole in this apartment building from apparent Russian airstrikes.
Several hundred feet away the roof of a kindergarten caved in, smoke seen billowing from the building.
Russia also intensifying its attack. Heavy shelling around the southern city of Mykolaiv. Here a man seen staring at the sky as explosions are seen nearby.
Up north, the head of Chernihiv Region Administration showing the destruction in his city. But the resolve of Ukrainian leaders including the country's former president remains strong.
[04:10:00]
POROSHENKO: 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.
SAENZ: Ukraine's current president still pushing NATO to impose a no- fly zone over his country while warning his entire nation has become the front line of the war.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This war, a difficult war, has truly united our nation. If you're asking me how's the situation on the front line, there's a front line everywhere.
SAENZ: The U.S. also looking to keep the economic pressure on Russia in the wake of its attack against Ukraine. President Biden announcing the U.S., E.U. and G7 countries will call for revoking Russia's most favored nation status; essentially, allowing for the U.S. and its allies to impose tariffs on a host of Russian goods.
Now here in the U.S., that will require an act of Congress. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says her chamber will take up a vote on that next week -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The humanitarian exodus from Ukraine is growing, as more and more people leave to escape the fighting. According to the U.N., some 2.6 million people refugees have fled to other countries.
On Friday, Guatemala received eight Ukrainians, the first to arrive in Central America for humanitarian reasons since the fighting began. So far, Germany has taken in nearly 123,000 of the displaced since the invasion began more than two weeks ago. A sports hall was turned into a temporary shelter, hosting some of the
more than 300,000 who fled to Romania.
Many are sharing details of their escape from war, telling horrifying stories of Russian attacks near their homes and warning that Putin's aggression might not stop with Ukraine.
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ELENA PUGCHOVA, ODESSA REFUGEE: I can't speak without tears. I'm sorry but I'm really sorry for my country and nobody could expect this really. This is awfully, awful things. The bomb can come -- how come they are bombing Mykolaiv?
It is only 120 kilometers from Odessa and it's painful inside.
DYMITRI PROPENKO, UKRAINIAN BASED IN CHINA: I think that we need more support for our people right now to stand against this. If Ukraine can fall, the next will be Europe because, for Putin, there is no -- there is no stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So if you would 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.
Ukrainian nuclear plants are in the crosshairs of Russian military forces. But some experts say capturing those plants is just as calculating as it is frightening. We'll explain, coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The Chernobyl nuclear plant has temporary power now, after being disconnected from Ukraine's power grid in March -- in the March 9th attack. The plant, which hasn't been active since the 1986 meltdown, is now powered by generators.
Russian forces have taken control of the plant but its Ukrainian staff is still working there. In fact, they're living there under the intense pressure of Russian guards. And there are growing fears the exhausted workers could make catastrophic mistakes in a crisis.
But some experts were horrified by Russian military moves near Ukraine's nuclear plants, especially after fire broke out during a Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia plant earlier this month. There was no release of radioactive energy but the chief of the U.N. atomic agency says it was a close call. As Nina dos Santos reports, some experts say Russia is going after those plants for a reason. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): First, Russia seized Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear meltdown. A week later it was Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant.
Now with power cut from Chernobyl and more than 200 plant workers held hostage, alarm bells are ringing.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This was terror at a new level. Ukraine has 15 nuclear plants and the Russian military has forgotten Chernobyl and the world's tragedy.
RAFAEL GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: We cannot go on like this. There has to be clear understandings, clear commitments not to go anywhere near a nuclear facility when it comes to military operations.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Some have called the targeting of such sensitive infrastructure a war crime.
DOS SANTOS: Do you think that these nuclear plants are going to be targeted specifically?
TARAS KUZIO, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SECURITY AFFAIRS EXPERT: They are extremely callous. They don't give a damn about civilian casualties. But I'd be surprised if they were going to deliberately target with missiles or artillery nuclear power plants; although, you know, with a sociopathic President Putin, anything is possible.
JOEL RUBIN, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: It's energy extortion, nuclear energy extortion in this case. And it is also extortion of the Ukrainian people, because it's going to harm their ability to gain (ph), eat, have electricity. This is a diabolical maneuver by Vladimir Putin.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Ukraine is home to 15 nuclear facilities; with two taken already, Russian forces are now approaching Ukraine's second largest nuclear site, Yuzhnoukrainsk in the Mykolaiv oblast.
GROSSI: They've been targeted as a means to control the power supply to Ukrainian cities and towns as a way of, in turn, controlling all aspects of Ukrainian society, trying to put a stranglehold and a squeeze on Ukrainian civilians.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Nuclear power makes up almost a quarter of Ukraine's overall energy mix, after coal and natural gas, most of which ultimately comes from Russia. But oil has also been hit.
Ukraine posted these images on Tuesday of fires at oil depots in Zhytomyr and Chernihiv in the northwest of the country.
The jury is out for now on what Russia's end game is with Ukraine's energy infrastructure, especially its nuclear sites.
[04:20:00] DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Ukraine tells the IAEA that radiation levels at these plants appear to be normal. But Western nerves have been rattled -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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BRUNHUBER: For perspective on this, we're joined by David Albright, a former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector and is now president of the Institute for Science and International Security. And he joins us from Muenster, Germany.
Thanks so much for being here with us. We saw in that package, first of all, the ongoing threats to nuclear facilities, whether it be from combat or from, say, a threat to the power supply of a nuclear generator.
How fraught is the situation right now?
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FORMER UNITED NATIONS NUCLEAR WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Well, the situation continues to be very concerning. I mean, I think the International Atomic Energy Agency is very correct in continuing to remind people that the situation is dangerous.
And they've weighed out a series of what they call pillars of proper safe behavior. And at the Zaporizhzhia plant, several of those that continue to be violated, including one in focus today, that the Ukrainian operators just don't have the control over the plant that they should have, that they should be making the decisions about the operation. It's -- they're under Russian military control.
There are now are some Rosatom nuclear engineers there that could perhaps play a useful role; although, fundamentally, Ukrainians should be controlling this plant. It's their plant. They know how to do it. And so I think the situation is problematic.
Moreover, there's unexploded ordnance that's been found at the plant, near the reactor. So because there was a firefight, according to National Public Radio analysis that was quite insightful, that it was a much bigger battle than we knew as it was taking place during the day after.
And so, unexploded ordnance from tanks and other firing mechanisms are around the nuclear reactor.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's -- I mean, almost inexplicable that something like this would be happening near a nuclear power plant. And it's not just the threat from combat; you alluded to the workers themselves. Some of them operating basically under Russian gunpoint. They're reportedly exhausted. You can imagine they're scared. The danger of human error can't be discounted under these circumstances.
ALBRIGHT: Yes, not at all. And it's -- and it's -- again, it's one of the problems in nuclear power safety. It's sort of what we didn't anticipate, creates some of the major accidents; this tidal wave in Fukushima that was never expected. And now we have war.
And it's not over. Russian forces are approaching the South Ukraine facility. They may be going after other ones. They are valuable assets. These things are worth billions and billions of dollars.
And we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that these nuclear reactors are connected to the Russian grid. Right now, they've been disconnected. It was part of a test that the Ukraine nuclear system was operating on right before the invasion.
But they can be reconnected and Russia could drain off the electricity and starve out the Ukrainians quite easily.
BRUNHUBER: So is that what's at play here?
We saw in that piece why Putin might be targeting those facilities. Basically, you control the power, you control the country.
ALBRIGHT: It's very hard to speculate. So much is in this fog of war. But I can almost assure that Ukraine resources will be exploited. That's what Russia did in the separatist area of Donbas.
If Russia itself didn't want the resources, they were willing to let your oligarchs and sycophants exploit the region, pay the people very poorly and make a lot of money by exporting resources from the separatist area. And I think they'll do the same thing to the entire Ukraine state.
BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's president and his officials have been very vocal about sounding the alarm, about a possible deliberate attack on their nuclear facilities. They even warned that Putin is preparing a false flag terrorist attack on Chernobyl and blaming it on Ukraine.
But some of the world's nuclear regulatory authorities were sort of downplaying some of those dangers. Some experts have been saying, those are scare tactics by the Ukrainians to gin up more support from the West.
Do you think those dangers are overstated, that the warnings of a nuclear calamity affecting all of Europe are overblown here?
ALBRIGHT: I don't think that the risk of a major nuclear accident is overblown. It's a real risk. And it would come from a war situation, perhaps at another nuclear site.
[04:25:00]
ALBRIGHT: Where it could just be an ignorant, scared soldier fires off a series of artillery shells or missile rockets that cripple the safety systems of a nuclear power plant. I don't think Russia would do it deliberately.
But it could happen. I also think that -- I would -- I would be hard- pressed to believe that Russia would do a false flag operation at Chernobyl. I mean, the problem is that Putin has done things that were not expected, that are crazy, stupid from Russian interests. And yet, he did them.
And so that's -- that's the problem, is that we don't know what to believe. But I personally would be very surprised if Russia did a false flag operation at a place like Chernobyl and that resulted in radioactive releases.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, certainly, very worrying for the whole world, as we watch what's unfolding there. Really appreciate your analysis, David Albright. Thanks so much for joining us.
ALBRIGHT: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Across time zones and borders, crowds of people are speaking out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Coming up, the global demonstrations showing solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Protests in support of Ukraine are going strong in many countries. Thousands of people gathered in Kyiv's twin Italian city of Florence --
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BRUNHUBER: -- to watch the Ukrainian president speak on a big screen, as blue and yellow Ukrainian flags waved above their heads.
In the speech, broadcast to dozens of European cities holding protests, Zelenskyy called for more sanctions against Moscow as well as a no-fly zone.
Ukrainians and Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to denounce the invasion and chant slogans. Many of them had the same message for Russia.
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SASHA LORIA, PROTESTER: Just go out of Ukraine. Just leave those people alone. They're normal people. They don't want war. They don't want anything. They just want independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Hundreds packed a historic square in Munich with signs saying, "Stop Putin" and "Putin kills Ukrainians," comparing the Russian president to the brutal Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: During a 75-minute phone call Saturday, German and French leaders urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to declare an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to Putin for a diplomatic solution but a source said Macron was disappointed by the, quote, "insincerity" of his Russian counterpart.
The source adds that Putin still is determined to achieve his objectives in Ukraine. The fact that he's still talking means that diplomatic solution isn't out of the question. Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris with the details.
So based on what we just said there, I mean, it's hard to get a sense of the -- did they actually make any progress here?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question, Kim, and one that we ask every time that Emmanuel Macron has these phone calls with Vladimir Putin, as he's done regularly over the course of the last few weeks in the spirit of trying to keep some kind of dialogue going.
Because belief, the French president sees, that is better than no dialogue at all. The last fall was on Thursday, Vladimir Putin, at the end of which, Elysee sources had said that what Vladimir Putin was putting ahead in terms of proposals was unacceptable to anybody.
At this time, no talks specifically of what Vladimir Putin was requesting before a cease-fire might be considered. But what we did hear from a source, Kim, was that gone was the rhetoric of the need to denazify Ukraine. The Elysee seem to see some signs of hope in that.
And yet, his tone they say remains determined and he remains determined to achieve his objectives. The French presidency says that they will continue to speaking to Putin. No date has been set for the next phone call.
But in the meantime, at the end of that phone call, what the source said is that Europeans are preparing to continue ratcheting up the pressure.
So what you can expect to see, Kim, is, next week, Europeans meeting in Brussels, to try to look at what fresh round of sanctions could now be introduced to continue making Vladimir Putin's life as difficult as possible.
What the source said is that the next round of sanctions would target, very specifically, mirrors, shadow what was happening on the ground, namely, the latest exactions by Ukrainian troops, the siege of Mariupol and the movement of Russian troops onward up the nuclear (ph) river.
Now the United States also preparing to apply fresh pressure. We heard that from Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, speaking on Thursday, saying that the sanctions that have imposed so far -- and they are considerable -- would have a catastrophic impact on the Russian economy, had already begun to do so but that the United States was also going to look at fresh sanctions.
We know that a bipartisan bill has been introduced to Congress that looks at how it can introduce secondary sanctions that will penalize any American company that helps Russia trade or move any of its $130 billion gold reserves.
So the pressure continues to come from the West. The hope for any diplomatic solution, I think, has long faded.
But still, these regular phone calls do at least allow the West, in the shape of Macron and Scholz, to check in with Putin and get a sense of where his mind is at. The signs, again, not hopeful but the channels need to remain open, says the French president.
BRUNHUBER: Quickly, Melissa, if these European attempts at diplomacy haven't necessarily had the wanted results, any hope that the Israeli or Turkish efforts will yield more concrete results?
BELL: Look, we had heard some signs of hope from President Zelenskyy over the course of the weekend, speaking about those negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
And what he said coming off those negotiations, specifically the ones that have been taking place in Turkey, is that they seem to have stopped exchanging ultimatums and look to have begun speaking to one another.
So some sense of hope in that. But again, what really matters is in the head of Vladimir Putin and, for the time being, the two men who are still speaking to him from the Western side.
[04:35:00]
BELL: They don't seem terribly hopeful of making much progress there, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll keep an eye on that. Melissa Bell, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Pro-Russia social media accounts are trying to convince the public to question what Ukraine and Western governments and Western news media are saying about the war. CNN's Daniel Dale has a fact check.
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DANIEL DALE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pro-Russia social media accounts are using false claims about so-called crisis actors to try to get people to doubt the credibility of important, accurate media reporting on what's going on in Ukraine. Let's look at two examples.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian forces quickly overtaking that area. We understand they are still in control. DALE (voice-over): This video has gone viral, getting well over a
million views on Twitter alone. It shows what seems to be a reporter, talking about people being killed and injured in Ukraine, in front of a bunch of people lying on the ground in what look like body bags.
And then you see one of the people in the bags conspicuously move around, obviously not dead. This video is being used as supposed evidenced that the media shamelessly televised a phony report about Ukrainian casualties, that the media talked about Ukrainian casualties but actually showed actors who were just playing the role of dead war victims for the cameras.
But that is not what happened. In fact, this video is a multi-step fake. Let's break it down, step by step.
That footage of a reporter talking in front of obviously not-deceased people in body bags, it is not from Ukraine, is it not even about Ukraine. In reality, this is Austrian news footage about a protest in Vienna, calling for action against climate change.
The reporter covering the climate protest, which happened more than two weeks before the Russian invasion began, did not talk about Ukraine whatsoever. In fact, this reporter didn't even speak in English. This was a report in the German language
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking German).
DALE: So where did that Ukraine-related audio in English come from?
Well, the maker of the fake just copied the audio from an NBC News report from the first day of the Russian invasion.
CAL PERRY, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Russian forces quickly overtaking that area. We understand they are still in control.
DALE: That is the English-speaking voice of NBC correspondent, Cal Perry. The audio is not the only thing that the maker of this fake changed from the Austrian report.
They also replaced the original German language text at the bottom of the report, which had made clear this was a story on a climate protest in Vienna, with the Ukraine-related text from the bottom of the NBC screen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other thing that went down today --
DALE (voice-over): Twitter ended up taking down a bunch of copies of this fake, saying that they violated its rules.
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DALE (voice-over): People are using this clip, too, to make the claim that the media is broadcasting footage of actors rather than real people terrified by war in Ukraine.
It looks like stage footage of actors, right? Well, that's because it obviously is. But here's the key. This has not been presented by media outlets as footage of people fleeing in Ukraine. Rather, it is just behind-the-scenes footage from a 2013 film shoot for a low-budget, independent sci-fi film called "Invasion Planet Earth."
The scene was filmed in England, not Ukraine. That is a square in Birmingham and the flag of the United Kingdom. The scene has nothing to do at all with Ukrainians or media coverage of the war in Ukraine. It has just been sitting on YouTube for more than eight years.
Now I'll add one caveat: there are at least a couple of obscure, low- follower Twitter accounts that have falsely presented these two videos as if they were from Ukraine. But what have spread far more widely are the false claims that Ukrainian crisis actors were behind the fakes and that media outlets are broadcasting these quote-unquote "crisis actor fakes" as if they were real Ukraine footage.
None of that actually happened.
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BRUNHUBER: Many families are desperate to find out what happened to their loved ones in the military, ordered to fight in the war. Coming up, we'll hear from workers of the Ukrainian hotline, hoping to provide answers in an exclusive report.
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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Olympic gold medalist in skating, Oksana Baiul, welcome to the.
BRUNHUBER: That was Ukrainian figure skater Oksana Baiul there, being honored at the White House after a 1994 victory in the Lillehammer Winter Olympics. Baiul grew up under Soviet rule. But by her teen years, she had won a gold medal and became a professional figure skater, a professional figure skater in the U.S.
Now living in the state of Nevada, she's using her voice for those back home in Ukraine. Baiul rallied hundreds outside of Las Vegas city hall. She's in contact with loved ones back home. And she's calling for people around the world to do their part for Ukraine.
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OKSANA BAIUL, OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATING GOLD MEDALIST: I feel, when I speak to Ukrainians on the ground, they feel they want a war, already. That's how they feel. They -- they -- that's why today, when I did interviews with different networks, I wore the white jacket for them.
That's the reason why, because they feel they've done -- they're so proud. They're so proud of who they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Baiul says every Ukrainian is stepping up to help the war effort, from volunteering or sharing supplies.
A Ukrainian government hotline is aiming to help ordinary Russians find their loved ones sent off to war. Many of them are desperate to find out what's happened to troops, since Moscow tightly controls information at home. CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke with workers at the hotline in Kyiv for this exclusive report.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Hello, is this where one can find out if someone is alive?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Hello, do you have any information about my husband?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Sorry to bother you, I'm calling regarding my brother.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): These are the voices of Russians -- parents, wives, siblings, desperately searching for answers, calling to find information, anything, on Russian soldiers they lost contact with who are fighting in Ukraine, who may be wounded, captured or even killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): When was the last time he contacted you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): On the 23rd of February, when he crossed the border into Ukraine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Did he tell you where he was going?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): He said toward Kyiv.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): This Russian wife, like many others, has turned to an unlikely source for help, the Ukrainians. In a Ukrainian government building, Kristina, which is her alias, is in charge of a hotline called Come Back from Ukraine Alive, which Ukraine's interior ministry says has gotten over 6,000 calls.
[04:45:00]
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Kristina asked that we don't show her face.
MARQUARDT: Your country is being invaded but you also feel the need to help these Russian families.
Why?
KRISTINA, HOTLINE OPERATOR (from captions): We will help find their relatives who were deceived and who without knowing where and why they are going -- find themselves in our country.
And, secondly, we will help to stop the war in general. In Russia they don't know what's actually going on in Ukraine. So the second goal of this hotline is to deliver the truth.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): The Russian relatives who have called this hotline say they haven't heard from their soldiers since the invasion. The hotline, which Russian families have found on social media or through word of mouth, gave CNN exclusive recordings of a number of the calls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): This is not our fault. Please, understand that they were forced.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Yes, I understand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): I also want this to end. I want everyone to live in peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): Yes.
MARQUARDT: What are some of the calls that stick out to you that you remember the most?
KRISTINA (from captions): A father called.
MARQUARDT: It's OK.
KRISTINA (from captions): He said, our children are being used as cannon fodder. Politicians and VIPs are playing their games, solving their issues while our children have to die.
MARQUARDT: These are the notes from one of the calls. And, in fact, this call came from the United States, the relative of a young Russian soldier trying to find him.
She told the Ukrainians that his parents are no longer alive, that the grandmother in Russia is quite sick. We have his birthday; he's just 23 years old. And he was last known to be in Crimea right before the invasion.
Now the Ukrainians don't have any information on him but, if they do find him or get some information, they can then call his aunt back in the United States.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Data from the hotline shows thousands of calls, not just from all across Russia but also from Europe and the United States.
MARQUARDT: Hello, is this Marat?
MARAT, FAMILY MEMBER OF RUSSIAN SOLDIER: Yes, it is.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): We got through to three relatives in the United States of Russian soldiers believed to be in Ukraine, who called the hotline, including a relative in Virginia of one, who also found the soldier's ID and photos on a channel of the social media app, Telegram, also dedicated to finding the whereabouts of Russian soldiers.
MARAT: We do realize that all the signs are pointing to that it's most likely he was killed in action but still trying to locate information, where is the body that can be potentially found. Or maybe, hopefully, he's alive.
MARQUARDT: Is the Russian ministry of defense telling anything to the family?
MARAT: The family is trying to not get contacted by anybody just because everybody's so scared in Russia. Everyone is scared to talk. Everyone's afraid of the law enforcement agencies tracking them.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Marina told us her cousin's parents have had no contact with him, no information on whereabouts or on his condition.
MARQUARDT: Are they being told anything?
MARINA, FAMILY MEMBER OF RUSSIAN SOLDIER: No, no they called. They tried to find him but like no one is answer.
MARQUARDT: Is that why you called this Ukrainian hotline?
MARINA: Yes, that's why I tried to call. Yes.
MARQUARDT: Did you get any information?
MARINA: Nyet. Nothing. I was, you know, hoping that he is like maybe like in prison or something like that, you know, that he's still alive.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): The vast majority of the calls do not result in immediate information for the families. Back in Kyiv, Kristina makes clear that the call center isn't just designed to offer answers but to galvanize Russians against the war.
KRISTINA (from captions): The more people we can share the truth about what's happening in Ukraine with the more people will go out protesting and demanding to stop this bloodshed.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Sympathy for families but also one more way to try to undermine the Russian war effort as Ukraine fights for its very existence -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Chelsea FC is one of the most successful soccer clubs in the world. Now the Russian oligarch owner of the club has been stripped of his duties. We'll have details after the break. Stay with us.
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[04:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Amid Russia's war in Ukraine, U.S. lawmakers keep pushing for the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. The two-time Olympic basketball champion was detained at an airport outside of Moscow last month on drug charges.
It's not clear where Griner is being held and her family has been tight lipped about the details of her case. U.S. House Democrats suggest that Griner's detention in the war in Ukraine aren't coincidental. Listen to this.
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REP. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE (D-TX): The timing couldn't believe worse. I believe all of this may have even been orchestrated. The quicker she is released, the better because you cannot count on the kinds of conditions that she would be subjected to.
She shouldn't have been in. I don't believe in any guilt. These are items, it seems, that, if it was even true, could have been confiscated and she could have been sent on her way.
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BRUNHUBER: The federal customs agency says a criminal case is underway.
It was another blow to Russian oligarch and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich. The English Premier League has now disqualified him as the club's director.
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[04:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back with more breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine right after the break. Stay with us.
