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Civilians Left Crumbling in Dark Shelter; Red Cross Welcomes Any Help; Ukraine's Plea Answered by More Funding from U.S.; ICC to Investigate War in Ukraine; Putin Wants to Eradicate Scum and Traitors; War Took Everything from a Father; Woman Made a Timeline of Her War Experience; Melitopol Mayor Now Back to Work; Two British- Iranians Released from Jail; Russian Ballerina Left Bolshoi Ballet; Russians Anti-War Protests Seen Abroad. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 17, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani bringing you breaking news from Ukraine, coming to you live from Lviv.
And we begin with this breaking news. At least one person is dead and three others wounded after debris from a downed missile hit a residential building in Kyiv. Authorities say a fire broke out in the 16-story building, but that it was put out pretty quickly. The state emergency service reports 30 people have been evacuated from that site, and rescue operations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, a dire situation in the southern coastal city of Mariupol. What could be one of the most brutal attacks since Russia invaded this country late last month. Local officials say Russian forces bombed a theater in the heart of the city where hundreds of people were taking shelter. It is not clear how many were killed or wounded, but here's part of what makes this attack so insidious.
Satellite images show the Russian word for "children" spelled out in large letters on two sides of the building, front and back. Ukraine blames Russia for another attack on civilians in the northern city of Chernihiv. Witnesses say 10 people line -- lining up for bread were killed by shelling.
Russia denies that its forces were responsible for this. And in Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv, emergency workers say three people were killed and five wounded after shelling caused a major fire at a market. Protesters turned out in another city after Russian forces detained the mayor, his deputy and the city council secretary.
You can see how Russian troops responded there with tear gas. Ukraine's president says Russia has killed more than 100 children in this invasion so far. He was asked Wednesday if Russia using chemical weapons would be a red line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I don't understand the meaning of red lines. What else should we wait for, for letting Russians kill 200, 300, or 400 children?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: More now on that attack on the theater in Mariupol from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: The flicker of flame here where Russia's barbarism peaked and an air strike hit a bomb shelter hiding hundreds beneath the theater, said local officials. The damage so complete, the entrance was reduced to rubble.
This satellite image from two days earlier showing the building standing with children written large outside. In case you're still thinking nobody knew who was here, videos had been circulating for days of the hell inside. How over a week of siege and shelling had forced those still living into a space so tight and dark. It must have felt like a tomb.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WALSH: Here he says is where we give out food. The children, women and elderly first. This is the converted cloakroom of the theater. If this looks like how you imagine the end of the world, for these children, packed in, that may have been the case when the bombs struck.
Russia claimed Ukrainian radicals caused the blast. In this room, 15 people, the narrator says. Little comfort any parent can give by the lie that this will be over soon. And below this door, that are yet more, an entire city forced underground. Little aid allowed in and few allowed out.
"People hear us, here were children, he says. His appeal is for food, help." Perhaps unaware it may have led Russian bombs straight to them. The swimming pool was also hit, a place where this narrator says a pregnant woman was trapped under the rubble and where only expectant mothers and those with under 3s hid.
The Kremlin wants to break or flatten this port, but its defenders still exact a cost, still keep them out. This drone video shows the moment Ukrainian fighters hit a Russian tank. The shots come again and again, the shots come again and again removing one of the tank's tracks. The crew were later seen hit as they tried to flee.
[03:04:58]
No room for mercy in a city that has little space left for life itself.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Odessa, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, here with me to discuss the humanitarian situation and aid distribution is Steve McAndrew. He is the head of the emergency operations in Ukraine for the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Thanks for being with us, Steve. First, talk to us about how this conflict and your operations here compare to other conflict zones you've worked in.
STEVE MCANDREW, HEAD OF OPERATION, IFRC UKRAINE: Yes, this conflict here is much larger in scope and speed and intensity than others we've worked in recent years. And it's spilling over into all the surrounding countries, and it's moving very quickly.
GORANI: What are your biggest challenges?
MCANDREW: Our biggest challenges at the moment are access, logistics, supply lines, safety of our volunteers, protection of the people we're trying to help. And everything else a person who need who has been affect by a conflict.
GORANI: You heard me report here, one attack after another on civilian targets. How do you get around that? Who are you talking to guarantee to try to protect your access routes into these hard-hit civilian areas?
MCANDREW: So, our colleagues in the international community, the Red Cross are holding confidential talks with all sides, reminding them of their commitments and requirements under international humanitarian law. So, it's a continual dialogue, and a continual effort. I think the main thing we do to solve this is persistence.
GORANI: When you say dialogue, that implies that there is a conversation ongoing. Are you getting any kind of positive messages back from specifically the Russian military? Because they're the ones targeting civilians right now.
MCANDREW: Well, as I said prior, the dialogue is confidential.
GORANI: Yes.
MCANDREW: So, there is a dialogue and it's confidential. And we kind of measure things not necessarily in positive or negative, but we measure by the people we help who are not -- who are affected by the conflict. So we have people we're serving on all sides. We just keep trying and trying.
It's a changing situation, and it's moving, and we're also seeing a wider devastating humanitarian crisis unfold here in western Ukraine and also spilling across the borders.
GORANI: So, talk to me what we see in areas like Mariupol. What are you hearing back from Red Cross, officials and workers on the ground there? Are they at all able to access the people who need their help?
MCANDREW: There is definitely Red Cross support going into people in those areas. In all the areas affected by conflict here in Ukraine. And they're in all sides on both sides of the conflict lines. We have Red Cross volunteers from the Ukraine Red Cross. But we also have Russian Red Cross working on this and other volunteers who were there even before the conflict started. So, we're helping. We're getting aid in. It's not enough. It's a drop in the bucket.
GORANI: What do you need most?
MCANDREW: We mostly need -- we need people to care about each other. And if you care about each other and you're watching this transmission, you can support your local Red Cross anywhere in the world. You can donate, donate time. And that will be channeled through the Red Cross movement here to help the people on the ground.
GORANI: And what I meant really is what do you need most in terms of supplies, in terms of aid? What is missing still here?
MCANDREW: Well, we are short on almost everything. So, we need funds in order to -- fuel. Fuel trucks, supplies, food, water, shelter. Blankets, everything people need. Basically, everything. All basic needs are what we are in need of right now.
GORANI: So, a city like Lviv like we are right now has taken in more than 200,000 internally displaced people. And what I find interesting about the situation is if you walk the streets of this city, you wouldn't necessarily know it compared to other conflict zones where you see tents and you see some refugee, mini refugee cities pop up. What is different about here? Is it how the Ukrainians have responded?
MCANDREW: Yes, definitely. Here, we're actually hearing we have over 300,000 in Lviv as of last night. And it's only a city of 700,000 or more.
GORANI: Yes.
MCANDREW: So, it's almost 50 percent increase. So, the locals are telling us, you can feel it, because everything is full. Hotels are full. Houses are full. And we do have makeshift camps. We do have some makeshift shelters, the train station --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: Yes, we saw that, yes.
MCANDREW: -- has people coming and going. You've been out there? All the services are under heavy pressure.
GORANI: Yes.
MCANDREW: And there is a lot of people that are coming and staying and then moving on.
GORANI: Yes. MCANDREW: And others are just staying here. So, the local response has been absolutely fantastic. There is an outpouring of volunteers that have joined the Red Cross and other organizations. So, we have the manpower and we have the energy. We're just -- we still need more resources.
GORANI: You need more resources. So, for anybody watching, because people can sometimes feel helpless, how can they help specifically the Red Cross.
MCANDREW: You can donate to your local Red Cross, wherever you are in the world. Even if you're in my hometown of Philadelphia, you can donate to the American Red Cross in Philadelphia, and this will get channeled through to us here on the ground.
[03:10:03]
GORANI: So how do we know that it's going to the Ukraine appeal, though? Is there somewhere on the web site they can click to make sure it goes there, or will they donate it to their local Red Cross and then the Red Cross allocates?
MCANDREW: Well, all the different Red Crosses have different web sites in different ways.
GORANI: Yes.
MCANDREW: So, they can engage. You can donate online. You can put on a request to where it goes, but I can't speak for all Red Crosses --
GORANI: Sure.
MCANDREW: -- which I'm supposed to. But they all -- the best way is to really engage and show interest and then they'll find out how they can help.
GORANI: Steve McAndrew, thanks very much. Good luck to you and your team here in Ukraine, the head of emergency operations in the country joining us on CNN.
Well, President Zelenskyy will take his plea for more support to Germany's Bundestag next hour. Now that follows his virtual address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. There he urged President Joe Biden to be a world leader, a leader for peace. He went on. And he reiterated his request for a no-fly zone, saying that Russia has turned Ukrainian skies into a source of death. As Zelenskyy compared this moment to other turning points in U.S. history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Remember Pearl Harbor, terrible morning of December 7, 1941 when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Just remember it. Remember September the 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories into battlefields, when innocent people were attacked -- attacked from air, yes. Just like no one else expected it, you cannot stop it. Our country experienced the same every day, right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, after Mr. Zelenskyy's speech, President Biden announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine. Now those include weapons, some pretty heavy ones, too. Anti-aircraft systems, drones, grenade launchers, guns and ammunition. Mr. Biden warned that this war could be a long and difficult battle, but emphasized that Americans will be steadfast in their support.
Now at a separate event, President Biden made his harshest condemnation yet of Vladimir Putin. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Are you ready to call Putin a war criminal?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think he is a war criminal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, the Kremlin says that Mr. Biden's calling Vladimir Putin a war criminal, is, quote, "unforgivable." The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov tells reporters that Russian president is still open to talk with his American counterpart despite U.S. sanctions, and maybe even despite President Biden calling him a war criminal.
Mr. Putin delivered a stark warning to Russian protesters on Wednesday, calling them traitors and scum. Listen to his eyebrow- raising words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They will try to bet on the so-called fifth column on traitors, on those who earn their money here but live over there. Live not in the geographical sense, but in the way they think with the mindset of a slave. These people cannot live without oysters and gender freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, we heard plenty of reports about Russian troops being depleted in Ukraine. Now they may be getting some badly needed help from back home. Japan has released new images of Russian warships passing through its waters, possibly carrying troops and combat vehicles to the battlefield.
Let's get more now from CNN senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann live this hour in Paris with the very latest. Jim?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hala, in fact, speculating on troop losses is something that probably would not put us in very good step with Vladimir Putin in that speech yesterday. He was even more unsettling in what he had to say. He said those are in the west are trying to split our society. The
Russian people will always be able to distinguish between two patriots and scum and traitors, and simply strip them out like bugs under the pavement. Bugs and gnats that have accidentally flown into their mouths.
It was kind -- really a kind of an unsettling speech. I guess that's the best way you could put it because he was saying things that were just outside the realm of reality in some respects. So, basically criticizing what was going on. And it reflects also what's going on from an administrative standpoint in the sense that the government is going after people.
There is a blogger here in France, for example, that they're going after, trying to pursue them for a fake news and that kind of thing. So, clear evidence, I think that they're worried about the kind of reporting that's going on in the west. Hala?
[03:15:07]
GORANI: All right, Jim Bittermann, thanks very much. Live in Paris.
A lot more to come on our special coverage as Russia's attacks on Ukraine escalate. The international Criminal Court's top prosecutor is there to determine whether war crimes are being committed. CNN's exclusive interview with him is just ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARIM ASAD AHMAD KHAN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: We need to get to the truth. And to get to the truth, we need to be here and separate fact from fiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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GORANI: U.S. President Joe Biden has raised the rhetorical stakes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by labeling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.
[03:20:02]
It's an allegation not taken lightly by the International Criminal Court. Already investigating whether Russia's attacks meet the bar to be considered legitimate war crimes.
The ICC's chief prosecutor sat down exclusively with my colleague Anderson Cooper to talk about the investigation so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You're here on the ground. You're -- it seems you're moving very fast on this.
KHAN: I think we have to. I think we see on our TV screens, Anderson, the attacks against civilian objects, the attacks regarding civilians, and we need to get to the truth. And to get to the truth we need to be here and separate fact from fiction.
COOPER: It is not enough to know that war crimes are being committed. You have to prove who is responsible.
KHAN: Absolutely. We have a duty to investigate exculpate and incriminating evidence equally. And we have a burden of proof which is the criminal law standard of proving it beyond reasonable doubt. And that's an arduous standard. It should it be. But if we are to fulfill our obligation, we have to conduct those independent investigations.
COOPER: Do you have to have the chain of command? Do you have to have a document that -- I mean, what do you look for evidence?
KHAN: Well, the truth. And the truth can take many forms. It can be testimonial evidence, it can be intercepts, it can be satellite, it can be radar, it can be insiders. It's a whole variety of it. But it's the evidence that is reliable, that is authentic, that is verified, and that judges can take it not just from me, but when they assess it and hear what the defense have to say, they can say, well, that is the truth. And we say that these conclusions are beyond are warranted beyond reasonable doubt.
COOPER: So even things like cell phone videos that we're seeing.
KHAN: Absolutely.
COOPER: That's important.
KHAN: Absolutely.
COOPER: It's going to be hard to find the truth in a time of disinformation.
KHAN: I think never as easy as people think to get to the truth. But at the same time, we've seen time and time again from Nuremburg onwards that the truth will out. And that gives me confidence.
COOPER: You're confident you can find the truth?
KHAN: I'm confident we'll do our job. We have very good men and women in the office. There is an international solidarity building up, 41 states unprecedented have referred this matter.
COOPER: You've had 41 countries refer to --
KHAN: Absolutely.
COOPER: -- the criminal court?
KHAN: And hopefully it will be great.
COOPER: In the past, justice has taken years and years, decades sometimes. What is the time frame you think this may take? KHAN: I think this is a test for us. International justice has done
remarkable things since Nuremberg, but it's not been an easy road. It's been criticized in some parts for being slow, for being ineffective and not making a real difference to people's lives. I this this is a test for the court, it's a test for me, it's a test for the office that we see the whole world is holding its breath.
COOPER: Because the world is watching what is happening here, the stakes are high for not only for finding justice here, but for the international order of law.
KHAN: I think this is why we need the law more than ever. We have to value the law, restrain ourselves individually when we have the upper hand. And realize for our collective survival and for the collective progression of civilization, humanity, this law is worth fighting for, and protecting and supporting.
And what I'm really keen about is it's not a burden of me as prosecutor. It's not a burden of the office of the prosecutor. It's not a burden just of Ukraine or states. These red lines that demark basic norms of acceptable conduct, a prohibition against genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes. These red lines need to be policed by all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: The chief prosecutor at the ICC. The war has touched nearly everyone in Ukraine, and the stories of loss are all too easy to find. After the break, you'll meet a father who had to get devastating news from social media.
Plus, coming up, one woman's Twitter campaign to show the world what Russia's military is doing to her country. We'll speak with her live, after this.
[03:25:00]
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GORANI: Well, despair and loss has led to heartbreaking scenes across Ukraine. At this morgue in the southern city of Mykolaiv, you see a constant stream of vehicles, dropping off and picking up body bags. They contain both soldiers but also civilians. Their families wait outside to identify their loved ones. Just unconscionable.
And at this port on the Black Sea, the military is just starting to bury the soldiers who made the sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice. It was one of their first targets of Russia's invasion last month. Of course, the tragedy is not limited to the military. One man described to CNN the moment he found out his family had perished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERHIY PEREBYINIS (through translator): I call this is the war on line, because we used to be in our family, we used to use Google geo location. And we used to see each other with my wife on Google Maps. And that's morning. I notice that there was an unusual geo location between Kyiv and Irpin. And then 20 minutes later, her phone moved to another location to a hospital in Kyiv.
[03:30:00]
And I suspected something was wrong. And I asked friends to come to the hospital and find out whether there was any bad news.
And then Twitter, there was a news on Twitter that in Romanivka that there was mortar shelling, and that family died. Two children, their mother and their father. And then I saw a (Inaudible) on Twitter, and I recognized my children. I recognized their things and their clothes. And I called my friends to say that the children are dead. Their bodies are lying on payment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Just unbelievable. Ukrainians have been enduring Russia's brutal aggression as best they can. Some choose to stand and fight, while others get away. One key woman has been documenting her experience on Twitter since the invasion began. And people around the world are now following her as the conflict enters its fourth week.
Yaroslava Antipina has now left the capital and joins us from western Ukraine. Thanks for being with us. What's your experience been in the last few weeks as you've documented this tragedy on social media?
YAROSLAVA ANTIPINA, CHRONICLING UKRAINE WAR ON TWITTER: Hello, Hala. Hello, everyone. As you mentioned, yes, I am in western Ukraine right now. I am safe at the moment. I came here just on March 4th so almost six days we were in Kyiv and to left the capital before -- after all these explosions, bombing, this terrible experience.
But now I'm fine, here with my mom and my son as I'm tweeting, and telling my story, my simple story to the world.
GORANI: Yes, what are some of the stories that have resonated the most with people who follow you online?
ANTIPINA: It's difficult to say because they are reacting very warmly on almost every tweet, especially when we are drinking our coffees in the morning, actually in the morning in Ukraine, or is evening in Australia in U.S. And it's some kind of, you know, unity, solidarity between people and as I say, there are no nationalities, and this time we are just people of the earth. And we don't want any more deaths, any more tragedies.
Yes. And probably later just a few weeks ago, I decided to make some kind to very shot chronicles of this war. And every day just write all this terrible thing, especially, for example, yesterday this horrible tragedy in the Mariupol theater, and yes, its residents, people too. But I don't want to press anyone. I just want to tell how regular people, how ordinary people live through these terrible events.
GORANI: How is it affecting you, how is it affecting you psychologically? This is your country. ANTIPINA: I used to tout that life finished, it just topped. And
right now, we've got here completely different life of this life. Everything has changed. It's even -- if it's safe, if we are fine here if we have enough food, not so bad sleep as people just suffers in other parts of Ukraine.
But it's impossible to live just regular life, to pretend that it's nothing just going on where people are dying. And it's very difficult when we see this news and also this war is very close to us. We've got alerts here twice, three times a day.
GORANI: And what do you tell your -- how old is your son, first of all. And what do you -- what do you tell him about what's going on?
ANTIPINA: My son is 19, and definitely he understands what's going on here from the first day.
GORANI: Yes.
[03:34:59]
ANTIPINA: And I just remember waking here up in Kyiv at 7. It was magic that he was sleeping, and the first phase for him was just -- I told him, my son, the war started. And it was difficult for him because he was a little afraid probably as everyone was. But right now, he just wants to go to fight. It seems to me that every man in our country has --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: He wants to fight.
ANTIPINA -- yes, definitely. Yes. But he's young. And now they don't take such young people to fight and also -- I don't want him to go to fight. He can -- he can't do it because he doesn't know how to take the gum.
GORANI: Yes. I can imagine how worried you are for him and this young generation of Ukrainians. So much uncertainty ahead. Yaroslva Antipina, thank you very much for your joining us.
She has been documenting the war on her Twitter account, and she -- many people have been following the tragedy in this country through her eyes and her post. Thank you so much.
A Ukrainian mayor who was captured by armed men last Friday now says he is ready to fight for his country again. As CNN reported back then, the mayor was seen in this video being dragged away after the city of Melitopol was captured. But now Ukrainian officials say Mayor Ivan Fyodorov has been released through a prisoner swap for nine Russian soldiers. He later spoke with President Zelenskyy Zelenskyy who told him to get back to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I'm very glad to hear from you, the voice of a living person.
IVAN FYODOROV, MAYOR, MELITOPOL, UKRAINE (through translator): Thank you so much for not leaving me. I need a day or two to recover. After that I am ready to fulfill any of your commands, so that the day of our victory comes much sooner and Melitopol returns and restore the
Ukrainian flag which these (muted) took down while they put me in jail.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Well, we can't promise you two days. You are a young man. You will recover in one day. We're very happy you were rescued. It is not possible to rescue everyone yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Just a bit of colorful language there in the call with the president. The flag the mayor mentioned was taken down on Monday while he was still being held. Zelenskyy said the Russian military tried to get Fyodorov to collaborate with them, but that he did not cave in.
More from Lviv, Ukraine very soon. But first, let's bring in Rosemary Church in Atlanta. Rosemary?
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, Hala. I really appreciate it.
Well, a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran for six years is now back home with her husband and daughter in the United Kingdom. Charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe stepped off a royal air force plane early Thursday, and with her another British-Iranian, Anousheh Ashouri. An Iranian court had sentenced him to 10 years in jail.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken into custody in 2016 while visiting relatives in Iran. She received a five-year sentence for espionage, a charge she denies. Iranian authorities did not say why she was released but it came after the U.K. announced it had settled a long- standing debt owed to theran dating back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Well, after protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine live on state TV, one Russian journalist says her life is changed forever. After the break, why she believes most Russian citizens want no part in Vladimir Putin's war.
Russians chant no to war, sending a message from abroad that's muted at home. And you will see how a top Russian rap artist got behind the anti-war movement outside the country.
[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Russia has avoided a sovereign debt default and made good on interest payments, which fell due on Wednesday. The finance minister told state media the $117 million payment came from Russia's foreign reserves, which had been frozen by the United States. A treasury spokesman says the payment will be allowed to go through. But there is trouble ahead with a $2 billion debt falling due early next month.
The Russian state TV journalist who protested the war in Ukraine during a live broadcast says it was impossible for her to stay silent anymore. You will of course recall she rushed the set of a newscast on Russia's Channel One Monday holding a large sign that said "no war." On Wednesday, she told Christiane Amanpour many Russians don't support the president's decision to invade Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:44:59]
MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA, NEWS EDITOR, RUSSIA CHANNEL ONE (through translator): I wanted to show to the world that Russians are against the war. The majority of Russians are against the war. And even if they support the Kremlin policy, they are pacifists. They hate war. Inside themselves, everybody in Russia is scared by what's going on. Everybody is confused. Our life changed overnight. Russians are really scared by what's going on, and their faces show fear and confusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So far, she hasn't been charged for the on-air protest, but a Moscow court did find her guilty of organizing an unauthorized public event for a video statement she recorded prior to the incident. She was fined the equivalent of nearly $300.
One of Russia's top ballerinas has quit the world-famous Bolshoi Ballet to protest the war in Ukraine. Olga Smirnova left Moscow for the Netherlands where she joins the Dutch National Ballet with her first performance already scheduled for April. The prima ballerina had been with the Bolshoi for more than a decade where she climbed to the position of principal soloist.
Smirnova explained her decision this way. "I never thought I would be ashamed of Russia. I have always been proud of talented Russian people, of our cultural and athletic achievements. But now I feel that a line has been drawn that separates the before and the after."
Well, since speaking out against the war is off limits in Russia, some ordinary Russians are taking a stand abroad. This week a large crowd attended an anti-war concert in Istanbul, headlined by a top Russian rap artist.
And as Jomana Karadsheh reports, no one dare miss the beat in criticizing the invasion.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To protest Putin's war, top Russian rap artist Oxxxymiron canceled concerts in Russia. On Tuesday, he kickstarted the first of his Russians against war charity gigs in Istanbul. Proceeds from this concert streamed live he announced will be going to Ukraine, and donations came rolling in fast. Tickets for this event sold out pretty much immediately. It is packed here. But not everyone is here for the music. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: I want to meet people with the same views as me. I want to meet with them and to feel that I'm not alone with this position.
KARADSHEH: And 28-year-old Anatoly (Ph) is not alone. Many here left Russia in recent days, escaping a crackdown on dissent, where thousands have been detained at protests, even calling Putin's invasion what it is, a war, has been criminalized.
UNKNOWN: When we are posting something on social media, at least we know that nobody is going to come for us. But back home, even now they have a new law, if you post something that you can be arrested. At least we can speak up from here.
KARADSHEH: Like many of those here tonight, Masha and Darya (Ph) have no plan. They just bought plane tickets and left the country.
UNKNOWN: Sanctions, it's not feeling -- we are not feeling safe there. We're afraid of this iron curtain thing.
KARADSHEH: They're here to help Ukraine, they say. It's the least they can do.
UNKNOWN: It's very hard to feel that --
UNKNOWN: Yes.
UNKNOWN: -- you are on the side of aggressor, you know. It's like you feel responsibility. You feel shame. You also a victim of the situation because back home it didn't feel like -- it's very hard to understand what can you do.
KARADSHEH: The crowd spontaneously chants what they couldn't back in Russia, no to war. Tonya just arrived in Istanbul. She says she was detained and fined in St. Petersburg for taking part in a protest. She had to leave her parents behind. Opposing the war has even torn apart her own family.
TONYA, RUSSIAN CITIZEN OPPOSED TO WAR: They watch TV, and they listen to propaganda, and it's really hard, because now many, many families in Russia are divided between these two sides, those who are against war and those who unfortunately support. But they even don't know what do they support.
KARADSHEH: Tonya, do you have hope that you will have a future in your country some day?
TONYA: During the Putin's regime, no. No. Definitely not.
KARADSHEH: There is so much uncertainty here. It's the fear of the unknown. Many don't know when or if they'll be able to go back home.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.
CHURCH: You're watching CNN. We'll be right back. [03:50:00]
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CHURCH: Musicians and singers in Taiwan are protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They performed in front of the Russian representative's office in Taipei to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
[03:55:02]
China claims the island as part of its territory, and many in Taiwan fear they could become the next place to be targeted by a major military power if Beijing becomes emboldened by Moscow's actions.
And if you would like to help people in Ukraine in need of shelter, food and water, you can go to cnn.com/impact, and you will find several ways that you can help.
And thank you so much for being with us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Our breaking news coverage continues with Max Foster after a break.
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