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Air Raid Sirens and Explosions in Lviv, Ukraine; Authorities Report 53 Killed in Attacks on Chernihiv; Zelenskyy Warns Mercenaries Against Joining Russia; Biden to Warn China not to Support Russian Aggression; Countries Around Ukraine Cope with Influx of Refugees; International Criminal Courts Looks into Possible War Crimes; Veteran War Photographer Captures Horrors of War; Biden and Xi to Talk for the First Time Since Invasion; Young Refugee Flees Ukraine Alone. Aired 1- 2a ET

Aired March 18, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:28]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States at this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.

Just day, and I notice I have my glasses on my head, just a few minutes ago, we heard some pretty loud explosions in the distance here and that -- those came after an air raid siren sounded across the city. We're working on figuring out exactly what those explosions were, and what the source of them was, as well. And when we have that information, we'll bring it to you.

Now, U.S. and NATO officials tell CNN that mounting Russian casualties have Moscow struggling to resupply its forces here in Ukraine and turning to more indiscriminate shelling and we're certainly seeing evidence of that on the ground.

Ukrainian civilians are paying the price. Authorities in the northern city of Chernihiv say 53 people have been killed in Russian attacks in the past 24 hours.

To the south in Mariupol, makeshift rescue crews are digging through the rubble of a theater that was serving as a shelter. Getting information from the besieged city is difficult, though, but there are reports of survivors emerging from that building. You see on your screen there.

Russian shells hit a huge market and Kharkiv causing a raging fire. And the mayor is reporting that one emergency responder was killed and an attack on a nearby school and arts club claimed 21 lives.

Drone video shows the damage at a 16-storey Kyiv apartment building hit by debris from a missile at least one person was killed there. Also this.

Absolutely devastating. After the attack, journalists witnessed this man kneeling on the ground, crying next to what appears to be a dead body.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a stern appeal to the German parliament to do more to end the fighting. Later, he warned mercenaries that joining Russian forces would be the worst decision of their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): We do not need 13 or more 1000s of killed Russian soldiers. We did not want this to war. We only want peace. We want you to love your children more than you fear your authorities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden is set to call the Chinese President Xi Jinping in the day ahead. He's expected to warn China that it will be held responsible if it supports Russia's aggression.

Now, Russian planes and artillery have been raining down bombs and shells, with no regard for civilians. The U.S. now says evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine is becoming undeniable. We get more now from CNN's Kristin Fisher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: The Ukrainian resistance is not letting up. But neither is the Russian offensive as Russian bombardments cause even more havoc in Ukrainian cities. This residential building in the Capital, Kyiv. was hit by the debris of a downed missiles. Ukraine's Emergency Service says at least one person was killed. But incredibly in the besieged city of Mariupol signs of survivors.

Just one day earlier, an airstrike hit a theater where civilians were sheltering despite the Russian word for children written on the ground outside the building. Today, the Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights says survivors have begun to emerge from the wreckage. There had been more than 1000 people sheltering believed to be inside. This video from last week shows the cramped conditions inside as the city has been cut off from water, power and heat.

OLEKSII REZNIKOV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: Still, in spite of that, this monster has bombed the theater.

FISHER: Russia denies attacking the theater, accusing Ukrainian militants of killing their own people. In the southern city of Mykolaiv, the dead have been piling up in morgues like this one.

Human Rights Watch is now accusing Russia of using cluster munitions there to kill civilians, a weapon banned under international law because of the high risk of civilian casualties and widespread damage in populated areas. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is now accusing Russia of war crimes.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime. After all, the destruction of the past three weeks, I find it difficult to conclude that the Russians are doing otherwise.

[01:05:05]

FISHER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has crossed all the red lines by shelling civilians and made this impassioned plea to German lawmakers to do more to help Ukraine.

ZELENSKYY (through translation): Every year, politicians say never again. Now, I see that these words are worthless. In Europe, people is being destroyed.

FISHER: But the Biden administration remains firmly against implementing a no fly zone over Ukraine.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's no such thing as a no fly zone light, a no fly zone means that you're in a conflict with Russia.

FISHER: The U.S. has been working to get additional lethal assistance to Ukraine. Sources tell CNN, U.S. will be providing switchblade drones, which detonate on impact with a target. Ukraine is also requested additional S300 air defense systems, NATO allies, Slovakia is willing to provide their S300 system to Ukraine if they get replacement capabilities from the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're willing to do so immediately when we have a proper placement.

FISHER: Russia is also considering reinforcing their military from outside the Ukrainian theater. According to a senior U.S. defense official, these images show Russian warships passing through the waters near Russia and Japan, possibly bound for Ukraine to prolong what has already been a catastrophic conflict. Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, joining me now via Skype is Maryan Zablotskyi, a Member of Ukraine's Parliament. Thanks for being with us. We're -- I mean, we're entering the fourth week there -- here of this Russian invasion of your country. How is the resistance going at this point? Because we're seeing devastating losses among the civilian population, it just not least the example of that theater in Mariupol that was used as a shelter. How is morale right now?

MARYAN ZABLOTSKYI, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Morale is very strong. So Russia taken civilians on lawmakers angrier if that's even more possible, and gives us the opportunity to fight back. So the Russia has suffered absolutely catastrophic losses. Our military claimed that they have lost more than 400 tanks and twice as many armored fighting vehicles. And most likely this figure is very correct. So even the independent groups, which monitor Russian losses just based on social media, they were able to count 234 lost tanks, which can be independently verified each one the one of them. And interestingly, 60% of them were captured by Ukrainians are just impacted by the Russians. Their morale is prickly.

GORANI: But that being said, the Russians are hitting from the air. I know your President Zelenskyy and many others, including members of the Ukrainian Parliament have called for a no fly zone. The West has pretty clearly said that's not on the table right now. How do you fight against that, because it appears as though some of the attacks have become more indiscriminate and are hitting civilians very hard?

ZABLOTSKYI: Unfortunately, yes, this is the sign of Russian desperation, so they were expected to be greeted with flowers. Instead, they were greeted with bullets. And since their forces very often refused to go ahead and fight as direct conflict, they resort to indiscriminate shelling. But first of all, our air defense system continued to work, although some of them have been -- a lot of them have been destroyed.

Secondly, we are receiving new shipments of stinger missiles and other aid. And again, the losses in terms of aircraft and helicopters for Russia have been absolutely catastrophic, mainly because they're stupid mistakes.

GORANI: Yeah, and what about you personally, are you -- what is your involvement in the resistance? Have you yourself become a fighter or how are you involved?

ZABLOTSKYI: I received the gun just yesterday, just in case but mostly focuses on supply so was able to bring more than 1000 bulletproof vests to Ukraine country for that. We're working heavily on the sanctions as part of the finance committee and using this opportunity, I would like to once again say that a lot of American companies stay in Russia and continue to pick taxes for Russia and we will be play into New York Stock Exchange the NASDAQ to not trade the shares of companies who are paying taxes rubles into Russian regime.

By the way, the biggest taxpayer -- for the taxpayer in Russia is Philip Morris, four and a half billion dollars in taxes to the Russian war machine. We're thinking that's completely unacceptable and directivity should stop.

GORANI: Sorry, what company, I didn't quite make that out. What company do you mentioned?

ZABLOTSKYI: Philip Morris International, Philip Morris International.

GORANI: Phillip Morris.

ZABLOTSKYI: We do not mind the Russians smoking cigarettes evidently, but four and a half billion dollars. annually in taxes which is roughly one and a half percent of Russia's government's revenue which they provide currently and do nothing about leaving the country we think that's unacceptable.

[01:10:12]

GORANI: Yeah. What more do you want from Western countries, NATO countries, the United States and their allies? In this short of a no fly zone, as we mentioned earlier in our discussion, they're not going there right now. What more do you think is needed on their part right now?

ZABLOTSKYI: Well, first of all, before asking for more, I need to express my sincere gratitude to American people for the aid that we already received. So the sanctions, which are obviously impacted Americans, and $14 billion, are an extremely big help to us. But we do ask to press all the buttons, everything that we can figure out. This is not just about human suffering. So the cost that we imply when Putin for this invasion, are the standard of cost for any potential invasion of other dictators to other nations.

Putin is trying break the rules since World War II, so you cannot change the borders by force and other dictators around the world are watching. We need to push all the buttons in order to guarantee that this doesn't spill over into the other countries.

GORANI: I guess as you know, the concern on the part of Western countries is that if they started doing things like implementing a no fly zone or sending jets to Ukrainians that it would be seen as some sort of direct assault on Russian forces inside Ukraine. And that, that might lead to a much wider conflagration with a nuclear armed state like Russia. Is any of that a concern to you at this stage?

ZABLOTSKYI: Well, of course, it is. We do not want nuclear war either. But I am afraid that we are heading towards direct conflict between Russia and NATO annually. We already have 1000s of U.S. and British volunteers coming to Ukraine. We already have American citizen that's on our territory. Russia is bringing 1000s of Syrians and Libyans to fight. Unfortunately, once again, you prevent is the theater for global fight. And Putin has already made claims towards Baltic countries. We know that according to surveys, a lot of polls are afraid that they are the next to be attacked. It is clear that Putin has lost his mind and is now in the mode of more and more attacking. So I'm afraid that more serious conflict is inevitable.

GORANI: Well, I mean, I hope you're wrong, I fear though, that it is a possibility. Maryan Zablotskyi, thanks so much for joining us, live this hour on CNN. Maryan Zablotskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

Now, coming up, we'll take you to one Polish border town dealing with the chaos of some 20,000 refugees crossing every single day. Plus, Israel welcomes a Ukrainian family in their time of need, decades after their ancestors risked their lives to help save the life of a young Jewish woman during the Holocaust. We'll be right back with that story as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:17:20] GORANI: Refugee numbers are growing as more Ukrainians flee to safety. According to the U.N., nearly half a million have arrived in Romania, which, along with Poland has been one of the biggest recipients of the displaced. Some of those forced to flee are putting the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EKATERINA HERMAN, POLTOVA REGION REFUGEE (through translation): I think that if all countries woke up and helped us, then some solution would be found. Otherwise, I think if Russian President Vladimir Putin is sick, nothing will stop him. Neither peace negotiations or anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: According to the U.N., more than 3.1 million people have now fled Ukraine to other countries. The vast majority of refugees have crossed into Poland. In a matter of just a few weeks, it's become one of the largest refugee hosting countries in the world. And it is creating chaos as more displaced pour across every day. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Ukrainian refugees step off the train in Shema Shield (ph), Poland, there's a sense of relief. They've escaped the war zone. But now these families must navigate a whole new world. Some are lucky they have family or friends waiting for them. But for most others, this tunnel leads them to the main train station hall where they start making sense of the overwhelming confusion on their own. They have no plan. It's improvised from here.

(On camera): When the refugees finally make their way off the platform and into the station, one of the first things that greets them is the sign in Ukrainian and polish that says here you are safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, do you need help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have already been advised; I need to go to Warsaw.

LAVANDERA: Families emerge from the train with endless questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, can I help you with anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we go from Berlin into Denmark?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To some small town?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And I think there will be some help offered there, too. Maybe families will host you, maybe there will be, some dormitories. Maybe people will come and drive you. LAVANDERA: About 20,000 Refugees a day or endlessly moving through this one small Polish city on the border with Ukraine, filling the halls of this train station built in the 19th Century, while parents figure out train rides to destinations across Europe. Exhausted children find baskets of treats and toys. This is what it's like to figure out your next steps when your world has been unraveled by war.

[01:20:11]

Confusion fills the air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're still looking. At 10pm we have a train to Prague, if you have don't plan to stay in Poland.

LAVANDERA: These refugees have made it out of the first maze onto a bus that will take them to Warsaw. And they're the questions will start all over again. Ed Lavandera, (inaudible), Poland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, some people who risked their lives to help Jewish people survive the Holocaust, are designated righteous among the nations in by Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Today, a family from Kharkiv descendants of a righteous couple who saved a Jewish man during the Holocaust has found refuge in Israel. CNN's Hadas Gold has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For hours, Katya Gusarov waited anxiously. For two Ukrainian refugees to emerge from Tel Aviv's airport. Finally, she spots them. Alla Misiuk and her daughter Liza. It's a warm embrace, but before today, they had never met. Katya is a researcher at Jerusalem's a Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum.

Alla is the great granddaughter of a couple deemed Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for helping save the life of a Jew during the Holocaust. That act of salvation now paid forward. Katya is hosting Alla and Liza after their terrifying journey out of Ukraine. They grow emotional recalling the last three weeks, including nearly 24 hours on a train that came under fire your Kyiv.

ALLA MISIUK, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE (through translation): We were told to turn off our phones and turn off the lights. So you understand how scary it all was. That even small children two or three years old, they understood that something terrible was going on. And even they were silent. They were afraid. We lay like that for an hour and a half each on top of each other.

GOLD: Their family ripped apart by war. Lisa and her mom forced to leave dad, Arthur [ph], behind.

(On camera): Liza, you're only 12 years old. Do you feel like you've grown up very quickly in the last few weeks? LIZA MISIUK, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE (through translation): Yeah. I may look the same on the outside. But my character has changed because I'm ready for war at all times. The siding starts to go off. And you realize that your life is in danger. You realize that you may never see your family again. That's what changed my character.

GOLD: Inside Katya's home as a chance to look over why Alla and Liza ended up in Israel. More than 80 years ago in 1941, Alla's great grandparents Yvonne and Tatiana Paramount [ph] to save the life of a young Jewish man and Soviet soldier named Victor Rudnick [ph]. Documents detail how they sheltered Rudnick after he escaped from a prisoner of war camp. At one point, risking their own lives by pretending Rudnick was their own son, even while they were forced to host German soldiers in the same house. A letter in the file written by Yvonne Paramount, describes how their town near Kharkiv was bombed in 1943. The similarities down to the dates haunting.

A. MISIUK (reading): The damn Germans bombed us from March 2 to March 19, every day from morning to evening, for three days we were hiding in our cellar on March 5, a bomb hits her barn.

GOLD: Alla goes emotional over the parallels to what the Russian army is doing now.

A. MISIUK (through translation): They just destroy them, destroy them deliberately, destroy them ruthlessly because well, because it's genocide. It's just genocide of the Ukrainian people.

GOLD: Katya and Alla's bond started when Alla reached out to museum a year ago via email, simply seeking more information about her family. Then the war started and Alla wrote again, asking for help. The doctor days traveling by train car and on foot, they made it to Poland and soon onto the plane to Tel Aviv. For now Alla and Liza say they feel safe, taken in by Katya's family like Alla's did for Victor so many years ago.

[01:25:00]

KATYA GUSAROV, RESEARCHER, YAD VASHEM: This bonding -- this bond of helping people it's just normal it shouldn't be, because if you do a good thing it will be back to you in one way or another.

GOLD: Hadas Gold, CNN, Modi'in, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, if you'd like to assist people in Ukraine who need the very basic of necessities, go to cnn.com/impact to find ways to help.

Well, maybe just a phone call, but the leaders of the U.S. and China could impact Russia's actions in Ukraine. That story ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:29:54]

Welcome back everybody. I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv Ukraine.

We heard sirens and some explosions in the past hour. We were able to film some plumes of smoke rising above some positions to the west of the city. We will continue to look at what may have caused these explosions and what the impact may have been on the ground and report back to you when we have more information.

Now Ukrainian authorities say Russian attacks against civilians have increased in intensity in recent days with hundreds of casualties, they tell us.

Russian shells struck a sprawling market in Kharkiv near the Russian border. Kharkiv's mayor says a rescue worker fighting the blaze was killed. At least 21 people were reported killed in other attacks in the city.

And not far from Kharkiv, Russian forces reportedly have detained another Ukrainian official in a village near the Russian border. Ukrainian officials say the mayor was kidnapped from his office and is being held at the local police station.

And American actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pleaded with Russian soldiers to stop the offensive. It was a long video but it's been watched hundreds of thousands of times. He recalled how his father was a broken man after buying into lies and fighting for the Nazis during World War II.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: This is not the war to defend Russia that your grandfathers or your great grandfather's fought. This is an illegal war.

Your lives, your limbs, your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war, condemned by the entire world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: It was a very interesting move there by Schwarzenegger because he is very popular in Russia. And as you could see there in the video that he put it on his social media, there were Russian subtitles, hoping I guess that it would reach people inside the country.

And as the human toll mounts in Ukraine, so do calls to hold Russia responsible for alleged war crimes.

The top prosecutor from the International Criminal Court came to Ukraine this week. He says there are reasonable grounds to believe war crimes have been committed partly because of Russia's -- because Russia has struck a long list of civilian targets. But the court's former top prosecutor says it could take years for justice to run its course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS MORENO OCAMPO, FORMER INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR: In my experience, in 2008, we invited President Bashir (ph) from Sudan for genocide in Darfur and it took ten years. Now Bashir is in jail, not yet indicted (INAUDIBLE) but is in jail in Sudan.

So yes, it takes a lot of years. So that is why for me, the point is the prosecutor has to make difficult decisions not just about the legal aspects, was it a war crime. The evidence he got, also what and how he can contribute to the prevention of crimes.

Because that is for me the biggest (INAUDIBLE) today, no, the ultimate is solve the crimes and to save the people. So we are presenting information about humanitarian efforts, military efforts. But we really need to stop these attacks.

And ICC is the only institution who can focus on individuals. That is the advantage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: The International Court launched a war crimes investigation in Ukraine earlier this month. Now we depend on correspondents and field teams to bring us the facts and the stories of war. The images that photojournalists capture in a war zone vividly illustrate the heartbreak and despair.

Veteran "Washington Post" photographer Heidi Levine shares with Anderson Cooper how those images affect her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI LEVINE, PHOTOJOURNALIST, "WASHINGTON POST": People always ask me, what is -- like how do you do this kind of work, how do you deal with what you see.

And that night, I mean I literally like woke at 3:00 in the morning with a nightmare. And I mean, I could not help but imagine like, you know, when I was filing my pictures. Besides documenting and witnessing what I'm witnessing in the moment. Then coming back and then looking at all these images again and editing and writing captions.

And it's just it, it really hit me like beyond description because I can't -- I mean all I want to write in my caption is like what if this was your grandmother. I mean how would you feel? I mean how do these people cope.

I mean, you know, I want my audience to try to connect to my work. And imagine, like what if you just had an hour, or even less to try to like pack up what you can carry including your children, your grandparents, or any other family members and like, you know, they don't even have time to even pack their photo albums.

[01:34:54]

LEVINE: Can you imagine just like fleeing and leaving your whole family history behind. Never understanding, never knowing that you may not even be able to return to your own home. I mean that is what I want the audience to understand.

I mean this could be them, this could be me. you know, the camera lens doesn't stop me from feeling because I'm on the other side of the camera.

I mean I cannot prevent myself from, you know, even crying in the moment or hugging people you know, stopping to photograph to help people. And I have to say that so many of my colleagues are doing that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well Levine's work has been featured in nearly every major international publication over her career. Talking there about how she has impacted and all journalists are impacted when reporting from war zones.

Now we are getting new video from right here in Lviv, of smoke rising in the distance after we heard those large explosions and sirens a little bit earlier.

So it happened around 6:30 a.m. Lviv, Ukraine time. An air raid siren went off and about 10, 12 minutes later, we heard these explosions. We understand that this is happening to the west of the city. We don't know the exact distance from the city center or what the target was.

Some word perhaps that the airport was targeted, but we cannot confirm this at this stage.

When we have more information, we will certainly bring it to you. I will have more at the top of the hour.

So first, let's bring in John Vause in Atlanta with more, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hala, before you go, this air strike, if it was an airstrike on Lviv, this is a city which has been spared most of the war so far. Is this one of the more major strikes which has just happened?

GORANI: Well, there was a strike on a military training base just a few days ago closer to the Polish border. It was heard from our position. But the explosion certainly sounded further away.

This is really the first time since I've been here that I've heard explosions this close. And they followed an air raid siren that went off around 6:15 a.m. our time.

We are still working to figure out exactly what was targeted. But it certainly was much closer than explosions that we've heard in the past. Whether it was the airport or another target, certainly it would be a significant development in the sense that that would mean that Russia is targeting either airports or supply routes very, very deep into western Ukraine and not in other battlefield locations like the south, the southeast and outside of Kyiv.

We'll work on getting you more information though, John. VAUSE: And stay safe while you do it. Hala, thank you for that.

We'll take a short break.

But when we come back, long before Russia invaded Ukraine, relations between Beijing and Washington was strained and could soon be sent into a downward spiral in the coming hours when Presidents Biden and Xi speak by phone. And we'll explain why in a moment.

[01:37:49]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Officially, China says it wants to stay out of the war in Ukraine but notably, Beijing has yet to condemn the Russian invasion, yet to even describe it as a war, preferring to echo Russian propaganda.

In the coming hours, U.S. President Joe Biden will speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, warning Beijing not to offer any assistance to Moscow and Vladimir Putin, who the U.S. president now describes as a thug.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The republic standing together against a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live for us this hour in Hong Kong. I can the question here is how long can China have a bet each way? Will this phone call between Biden and Xi Jinping essentially force Beijing to pick a side?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, It is interesting, this balancing game that China is playing. It wants to be seen on the international stage as a peacemaker, as an honest broker but while internally inside China and also to Russia, maintaining this no limits partnership with its ally Moscow.

Ahead of this upcoming phone call between Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden, we've been monitoring Chinese state run media, and they say that in this phone call that they expect the two leaders to exchange views on areas of common interest.

But according to the White House, they will be discussing how to manage competition as well as addressing Russia's war against Ukraine. Those two issues not mentioned at all inside Chinese state run media.

In the run up to this phone call, the Biden administration has been making the assertion that Russia is asking China for military and economic assistance. This is something that both Russia and China deny. We heard from Jen Psaki on Thursday, the White House press secretary who said that the Biden administration has quote, "high concern that China could still help Russia". And the U.S. has also warned of costs. of imposing costs if China were to do so.

The Biden administration is also trying to seek clarity on what is China's position in regards to the war and it's easy to understand why if you look at recent events.

You go back to February, that's summit in Beijing invasion between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in which they declared their no-limits partnership. You take a look at the meeting that took place earlier this week in Lviv with China's top diplomat in Ukraine, meeting with Ukrainian officials and again this week announcing that China would never attack Ukraine and would help Ukraine economically.

And then you have a meeting that took place just yesterday, between a ministry of foreign affairs official and the Russian ambassador to China -- both those meetings in Lviv and the one presumably reported in Beijing incidentally not reported in Chinese state run media.

So it is expected going into this phone call that China will continue to adopt this balancing position. This neutral third party role, take a listen to this.

[01:44:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YUN SUN, DIRECTOR, CHINA PROGRAM AT THE STIMSON CENTER: So neither are leaning towards Russia nor leaning towards Ukraine and instead trying to present itself as a neutral third party. And communicating with the United States about China's position and also the injustice if the U.S. decides to pursue secondary sanctions on China because of this economic relationship with Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: So is China on the side of Russia or Ukraine? Yun Sun says it's both in this exercise of balanced diplomacy.

Back to you.

VAUSE: Balanced diplomacy indeed. Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there live for us in Hong Kong.

Well, among the millions who fled Ukraine, one little boy made the dangerous journey to safety alone. We will have his story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: The launch of Europe's first planetary rover is now on hold. The joint mission with Russia was aiming to send a rover to Mars by September. But sanctions on Moscow means the project for now is no longer possible. The European Space Agency says it deplores the human casualties and tragic consequences of Russia's actions.

[01:49:56]

VAUSE: Among the millions who fled the violence and destruction in Ukraine is a courageous 11-year-old boy. He traveled more than 600 miles, almost a thousand kilometers from his home to Slovakia and he did it alone.

CNN's Don Lemon has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: It was difficult to leave your mother?

HASSAN AL KHALAF, FLED UKRAINE ALONE: I told her everything was going to be all right and I am sure of it.

LEMON: 11 year old Hassan al Khalaf fled the destruction all alone and traveling more than 600 miles with only a bag, his passport and a telephone number written on his hand -- a harrowing story of survival amid Putin's war in Ukraine.

AL KHALAF: All people were nervous of war and it was difficult to travel across Ukraine.

LEMON: It is one story of many in this devastating conflict that the United Nations says has caused more than 3 million Ukrainians to flee their country. The invasion creating a Ukrainian child refugee almost every single second, resulting in heartbreaking scenes like this.

A young boy, crosses the border in Poland, crying as he walks ahead of a group of adults. Hassan's journey to safety in Slovakia began more than two weeks ago and 620 miles away in the town of Zaporizhzhia.

His mother, Pisecka Yulia Volodymyrivna (ph) stuck in a war zone with a little boy and an elderly mother to protect and care for, makes an impossible choice to stay behind with her mother and send Hassan on a train out of Zaporizhzhia, which is near the nuclear power plant that came under attack by Russian forces.

How long did it take you to get here?

AL-KHALAF: Three or four days.

LEMON: Three or four days. Were you scared Hassan?

AL-KHALAF: Yes. I was very scared. I felt horrible. I really wanted to cry because I have always been with my mom and this is the first time I had to go away from her.

LEMON: What did she say to you when you left?

AL-KHALAF: She wished me lots of luck and that I wouldn't be crying and sad. LEMON: Were you worried though?

AL-KHALAF: Of course. Always worried.

LEMON: Hassan, alone, traveled all the way to Bratislava in Slovakia, where he found his older brothers and sisters. They had journeyed ahead earlier to meet up with their older brother who was studying in Slovakia. And that is where I met them today.

So you had a bag?

AL-KHALAF: Yes. I had one bag.

LEMON: And then you had a number written on your hand?

AL-KHALAF: On my right hand.

LEMON: It was written what -- in ink?

AL-KHALAF: It was written with a pen.

LEMON: And then you had your phone?

AL-KHALAF: Yes.

LEMON: You have your phone with you?

AL-KHALAF: Yes.

LEMON: Can I see it.

Did you ever call your mom?

AL-KHALAF: Yes, I called her.

LEMON: You did. Did you let her know where you were along the way?

AL-KHALAF: Yes. I did tell her.

LEMON: Yes.

AL-KHALAF: Yes.

LEMON: And did you ever call your brothers and sisters to let them know where you were?

AL-KHALAF: Yes. I called them and told them where I was.

LEMON: And so they knew, they were checking on where you were throughout your time?

AL-KHALAF: Yes. I was reporting to them. They knew where I was.

LEMON: And then they gave you directions.

AL-KHALAF: Yes. LEMON: Did you have -- did you have money with you?

AL-KHALAF: No. No money at all.

LEMON: Hassan says that he got his hope from his mother, who desperately wanted him to get to safety. And now she too is safe. She was able to reach Slovakia Tuesday and reunite with her Hassan.

PISECKA YULIA VOLODYMYRIVNA, HASSAN'S MOTHER: I cannot leave my mother, she's 84 and not mobile. But I had put my son on the train to go to the Slovakian border, where he was met by the people with big hearts.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of the Slovakian border guards and all the volunteers of Slovakia who sheltered my child, who helped him to cross the border on his own.

LEMON: Hassan's rescue was a family affair. Some of the siblings gave their mom advice on the best way to get Hassan out of the war torn country. But there were times they were scared that he would get lost.

Did you think he was not going to make it or that he would get lost and that you would never see him again.

KINANA, HASSAN'S SISTER: I always believed that he will be with us because he is very clever and he could also phone -- call us. And we were helping.

But when I saw him, I thought now I can relax.

LEMON: How do you feel now that you are all together?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very relaxed.

LUNA, HASSAN'S SISTER: Relaxed, because we spent our whole life together and it was very nervous to us that we fell apart.

LEMON: So when you all saw your mother and you are back together, was that like?

[01:54:56]

MUKHAMMED, HASSAN'S BROTHER: I like was relaxed. I was happy to see my mom because every day I missed her eyes, and I think, she cooked me a lot of food.

LEMON: For Hassan, it's not the first time he has had to escape out of a war zone. He and his family had to flee the war in Syria about a decade ago, when Hassan was just a baby.

But no matter the struggles he has faced, his bravery was never in doubt.

Did you cry?

AL-KHALAF: No. But I wanted to. LEMON: Don Lemon, CNN -- Bratislava, Slovakia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause, our coverage with Hala Gorani in Lviv, Ukraine continues after a short break.

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