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Dozens Feared Dead in Bombing of Ukraine Army Barracks; U.S. General Says Russian Troops Do Not Appear Motivated; Ukrainian Officer Speaks about the Realities of War; War Refugees Spread Out across Europe; Drone Footage Shows Gutted Buildings in Mariupol; U.S. Veteran Trains Ukrainian Civilians to Treat War Wounds; U.S. and Chinese Leaders Speak on Ukraine; Ukrainian Refugees Stuck at U.S.-Mexico Border; Russian Orthodox Church Supports Putin. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 19, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour as well. I am Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine.
Ukraine's military says it's exacting a heavy toll from -- for -- on Russia, claiming 14,000 Russian troops have been killed so far. Others estimate Russian deaths are fewer but still in the thousands.
And it's not obviously without Ukrainian losses. Russian bombers struck army barracks in the southern city of Mykolaiv. Swedish journalists who were on the scene shot video of rescuers pulling one person from the debris. It is feared dozens of Ukrainian soldiers may have been killed in this attack.
In the besieged port of Mariupol, drone footage shows the utter devastation that Russian forces have unleashed.
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GORANI (voice-over): A huge shopping mall -- you see it there on your screen -- stands gutted and completely burned out, along with blocks of charred apartment buildings. New satellite images show some Russian forces taking up defensive positions, digging earthen berms for protection.
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GORANI: Ukraine's president is now warning Moscow that its aggression will only end up hurting Russia.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): These tactics by the Russian military are only worsening the situation for the Russian state. They result in new and devastating sanctions.
They encourage new participants to join our antiwar coalition. They help unite countries, that always tried to remain neutral, to pressure Russia.
That is why negotiations about peace, about security for us, security for Ukraine, substantial, honest ones and without stalling are the only chance -- the only chance -- for Russia to mitigate the damage inflicted by its own mistakes.
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GORANI: In the U.S., President Biden spoke for nearly two hours with China's president Xi Jinping, warning of unspecified consequences if Beijing assists the Russian side. We will have more on that story later this hour.
But as the conflict enters its fourth -- fourth week, CNN's Kristin Fisher has the latest developments from across this war zone.
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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia is broadening its targets with new airstrikes hitting the western city of Lviv, which previously had been largely spared. The mayor confirming missiles hit near the airport.
The city is just over 40 miles from the border with Poland, a NATO country and Lviv has been a haven for refugees fleeing the conflict are a stop on the way to Europe.
And Russia is not letting up on the capital, Kyiv, with new strikes on the northern residential district, Ukrainian Emergency Services say one person died after remains of a downed missile set fire to a residential building.
In the northeast, fires broke out in this massive market in the city of Kharkiv after it was shelled by Russian forces. City officials say one rescue worker died.
In the southern city of Mariupol, 130 people have been rescued from that makeshift shelter bombed by Russian forces, a theater with the Russian word for "children" written beside the building. Russia denies the attack.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Hundreds of Mariupol residents are still under the debris despite the shelling, despite all the difficulties, we will continue rescue work.
FISHER (voice-over): The seemingly intentional targeting of civilians has led many in the Biden administration, including the President and Secretary of State to accuse Russia of war crimes, as the State Department works to gather evidence against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
WENDY SHERMAN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: In terms of international law, you have to have evidence, you have to have a body of proof that in fact, there was intentionality.
FISHER (voice-over): And as civilians die in Ukraine, Putin held a concert marking the anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea. The concert featured patriotic songs like this one "Called made in the USSR."
Putin claims Russia has never been more united as his country suffers a collapsing economy caused by Western sanctions.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The best proof is the way our boys are fighting in this operation, shoulder to shoulder, supporting each other and if need be, protecting each other like brothers.
FISHER (voice-over): That's not how a top U.S. general sees it.
GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE JR., CENTRAL COMMAND: They don't appear, from where I sit at least, to be particularly motivated or particularly engaged in the campaign that they're undertaking.
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FISHER (voice-over): Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.
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GORANI: Well, as the Russian ground offensive largely grinds to a halt, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, says things are not going according to plan for Moscow. He spoke with Don Lemon during a visit to Bulgaria Friday.
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GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think, you know, they have not progressed as far as quickly as they would have like to.
They, I think they envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly seize the capital city. They've not been able to do that. They've struggled with logistics, so we've seen a number of missteps along the way.
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GORANI: Well, echoing what President Biden said, Austin also said he was hoping China wouldn't offer a military or economic lifeline to Russia, which Moscow had reportedly requested.
Let's talk more now about Vladimir Putin's huge rally and concert in Moscow, celebrating Russia's annexation of Crimea. Some of those attending said they felt pressured to go. Mr. Putin also used the occasion to justify his renewed invasion of Ukraine, falsely claiming it was necessary to protect Ukrainians from, quote, "genocide."
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): To free the people from suffering and this genocide is a main initiating reason and goal for Russia starting a special operation in Donbas and Ukraine.
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GORANI: Well, as Mr. Putin celebrates, the reality can hardly be more -- more harsh. For the defenders of this country in Ukraine, they are, in some cases, the only thing standing between the Russian military and their homes and families.
We spoke with one battalion commander about this war. And he told CNN's Ivan Watson that dying is only the second worst thing that could happen to him.
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MAJ. SERHII TAMARIN, UKRAINIAN TERRITORIAL DEFENSE: It's not so scary to die. It's much more scary to lose.
When we met the second army in the world by statistic, we expected more professionals, we expected more aggressive and more strong fighting.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Your battalion filmed this.
TAMARIN: It's hitting in Russian tanks.
WATSON: And that's hit by Ukrainian artillery.
TAMARIN: Artillery. Yes.
WATSON (voice-over): Drone footage that CNN cannot independently verify from battlefields northwest of Kyiv, filmed by a battalion of Ukraine's territorial defense force, commanded by Major Serhii Tamarin.
WATSON: Has your battalion had casualties?
TAMARIN: Yes, yes.
WATSON: People killed, people wounded.
TAMARIN: Yes, I prefer not to tell the number of people but we have I already lost my friends and people who suffer with me. We have people who wounded.
WATSON: What is the weapon that is hurting your men?
TAMARIN: The most dangerous it's artillery.
WATSON (voice-over): Tamarin is a veteran of the long war against Russian backed separatists in Ukraine southeastern Donbas region, he re-enlisted along with most of his battalion of nearly 400 after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. He calls his strategy aggressive resistance. TAMARIN: Just separating for small troops. Not more than 10 people with a few grenade launchers and some kind of clean up group with rifles and machine guns. I can say is that Russian army -- regular army infantry groups fight well.
They even have food bags, which is expired few years ago, so they don't have normal food. They don't have even water.
WATSON: Your battalion, how many armored vehicles tanks do you think you've destroyed?
TAMARIN: Right now?
More than 20 it's not only tanks, it's like tanks and other vehicle.
WATSON: Does your battalion have an estimate for how many Russians they killed?
TAMARIN: For now we destroy almost 200 Russians, captured alive closer to six or eight soldiers.
WATSON (voice-over): Tamarin is recovering from injuries sustained during a combat operation.
TAMARIN: Our car is fall down from the bridge which was blown up. Half of my ribs broken.
WATSON (voice-over): He says his men have started to receive some foreign weapons shoulder fired missiles and he's confident Ukraine will have victory but at a terrible price.
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TAMARIN: Is the price which pay Ukraine right now is I think impossible. It's some kind of whole nightmare, sacrifice of all nation.
WATSON (voice-over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.
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GORANI: Sviatoslav Yurash is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and joins me now live from Kyiv.
We have spoken before.
When you heard that battalion commander on the ground saying, Ukraine will prevail but it will come at a very heavy price, I mean, how concerned are you that this Russian offensive is -- is going to inflict a lot of damage to the infrastructure of your country, to obviously the population in your country, that it might be difficult to recover from in the future?
What is your -- what is your biggest concern on that front? SVIATOSLAV YURASH, UKRAINIAN MP: The reality is when you think about the gift that you got from your ancestors, that is your country's independence, your country, your nation, keeping it and giving it a chance to have the future that it chooses is a worthy goal.
And that is something that everyone is realizing in my country. And that's why battalion commander yours truly and numerous others have tried to join in, in one way or the other, and to become useful in one way or the other for the efforts that are putting the whole nation on the road to victory.
And again, the cost and the price of having your liberty is something that is too dear to even consider giving up. And the point here is that this cost is multiplied every single day that the West chooses not to take part in a way that matters, not to help us imposing a no- fly zone, either by giving us the means to do so or doing it themselves.
GORANI: What we are seeing now are Russians using longer-range missiles, for instance, because they have clearly been taking losses to their ground troops.
How does Ukraine defend itself against those weapons that now Russia is using?
They are causing a lot of civilian damage and misery.
YURASH: First, they are using cruise missiles and other means of that sort from day one. And the fact is that, as far as Russia's concerned, they have tried to immediately show to all the world, to Ukraine, that they are willing to attack every part of the country, attack everywhere because, from the west of my country to the east of the country with cruise missiles, exactly.
Spotters, the defense against cruise missiles, it is something first we thank the West for providing anti-air protection means. But we need to discuss it further. We have systems in the world, including the Iron Dome, developed with the help and the immediate support in every way by the American army.
And that is system that is providing a lot of security against missile attacks on Israel. That is something that Ukraine needs clearly. And as you see those images mounting on your TVs, the facts are very clear.
We need that can try and help us protect against the air. The Russians, again, can cause terror in any part of Ukraine, even as close to NATO borders. You have seen basically what they base those attack, five miles away from the NATO border. (INAUDIBLE) this will spill over if they don't help us stop it.
GORANI: Do you have any hope that some of these talks, that have been taking place between the Russian side and Ukrainians, will yield anything?
I mean, there have been, at the very higher levels, efforts -- Macron has had, I think, his 15th phone call with Vladimir Putin this year. We know Joe Biden spoke to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, trying to press upon Beijing not to help the Russian side.
Do you have any hope on the diplomatic front?
YURASH: We, from the very beginning -- from a week before the invasion, when Putin released an hour-long video, in which he basically declared all his goals for this war, this destruction of Ukrainian statehood, destruction of Ukrainian nation and cooperation of us, into whatever ambitions he has for creating a greater Russia.
The point is that it is no surprise that negotiations are failing because, every single time we agree on something, like humanitarian corridors, for example, to try bring our elderly, women, children to leave the cities, which Russians are trying to besiege and causing immense havoc in, causing hell on Earth, like what you see in Mariupol, for example.
What is happening there, they are breaking the truth. They are fighting and killing our civilians.
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YURASH: And the point here is that it is very hard to trust, when even the rudimentary, something that everybody should agree on, is broken. And people are getting killed when they are trying to follow what the Russians supposedly agreed to yesterday and today.
GORANI: Yes.
So you can't trust them?
I mean, that they break every promise they make, is what you are saying?
YURASH: Well, from the very beginning, I mean, the whole idea is we gave up the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world for the guarantees, not just from Russia but from the U.S., from U.K., of our total independence and integrity.
The point here is those promises haven't been kept. And the response that pressure has been so mild, that Russia felt emboldened to continue the war after the Crimean occupation, to start war in the east and now to launch a full-scale invasion.
The point here is that Russia never respected its agreements. And when we speak about compromise, we cannot compromise something that we are fighting and losing people daily for; that is our defenders, our integrity and our sovereignty.
GORANI: All right. Sviatoslav Yurash, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, thanks for joining us from the Ukrainian capital.
Coming up on CNN, Poland has become a refuge for millions of Ukrainians, with thousands more arriving every day.
How long, though, before resources run out?
That's just ahead.
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GORANI: Refugees from Ukraine are spreading out across Europe. Hundreds of the displaced reached Munich aboard a train from Budapest yesterday. Most were women with kids, many others were elderly.
Germany has now received nearly 200,000 Ukrainians so far. And, according to the U.N., more than 3.2 million people have fled the fighting in Ukraine. At least 2 million have crossed into Poland alone. And many of those people have now moved on to other European countries.
It is the largest movement of refugees in Europe since World War II. And it happened very fast and it just keeps growing. CNN's Melissa Bell shows us how the exodus from Ukraine has changed one small border town in Poland.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a long road. Liberty may lie ahead. But at least safety has been reached for now. Ukrainian children and their mothers who've made it just across the border to Poland, their first night of peace spent in a school gym, so much of what is here provided by volunteers.
ADAM WASOWICZ, VOLUNTEER: In the beginning, the aid flowed spontaneously from many different sources. But I must admit these were not from the government. I do not hide that we are disappointed here because this volunteering has accelerated. We are starting to fade here.
BELL (voice-over): But still more refugees arrive at the border town of Przemysl -- about 1,000 per train and several trains a day. Carrying what little they can have of their former lives, pinning their hopes of survival on the kindness of strangers, mainly women and children who've left their fighting aged men behind.
ALESSANDRA OVSIIENKO, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: It's difficult. And really, I don't know what I feel. Because I have a little baby, I love my family, I hope I had plans. And now I don't have plans.
BELL (voice-over): Of the more than 3 million who fled Ukraine, about 2 million have come to Poland, a figure that means that the country's population has risen by 5 percent.
WOJCIECH BAKUN, MAYOR OF PRZEMYSL, POLAND: We react very quickly but we can do this for three or four weeks, not for long time. So we just wait for reaction, our government as well as E.U. countries.
BELL (voice-over): In Brussels, the commissioner in charge gave a tour on Thursday of the Emergency Response Coordination Center, from where the European Union is organizing its largest emergency response to date.
JAENZ LENARCIC, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT: We now have 1 million refugees per week. So if this goes on, if this goes on 10 more weeks, yes, we could reach the figure of 15 million people.
BELL (voice-over): European transport ministers meeting last weekend in the Polish city of Krakow to try and figure out the problem of bottlenecks caused by the sheer number of people arriving at places like Przemysl station, seeking peace and for now, just safety -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Chernihiv, Poland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, if you would like to help people in Ukraine who are in need of basic necessities, like shelter, food and water, go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find several ways to help there.
Missiles are leaving scenes of destruction in parts of the Ukrainian capital. We will show you what remains in the wake of a downed rocket in Kyiv. We'll be right back.
Plus, every day, civilians in Ukraine are learning the unimaginable: how to treat war wounds, among other things. That story ahead as well.
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GORANI: Welcome back. I am Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.
Russia is making a renewed push to take the southern port city of Mykolaiv.
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GORANI (voice-over): You are looking at the aftermath of a Russian strike there on a Ukrainian base Friday, soldiers working to pull people from the rubble. But dozens are feared dead.
One of the surviving soldiers told Swedish journalists on the scene that it appears that most people inside were killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Meanwhile, we are getting new images from Mariupol, one of the worst-hit cities. Much of it lies in ruins after days of nonstop Russian shelling.
And France says President Emmanuel Macron made yet another appeal to the Russian president Vladimir Putin Friday; this time, to stop the siege of Mariupol, to allow humanitarian access.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has a new message for Moscow, saying it's in Russia's best interest to negotiate for peace. He spoke after Vladimir Putin appeared before a large crowd at a Moscow stadium to mark the anniversary of Russia's annexation in Crimea in 2014. Listen.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Just imagine, 14,000 dead bodies at that stadium in Moscow and tens of thousands of wounded, maimed people. That is how great are the Russian losses already as a result of this invasion. That's the price of a war in a little of three weeks.
The war must be stopped. The Ukrainian proposal is on the table.
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GORANI: A downed Russian cruise missile landed near a school building in northern Kyiv on Friday. And, as CNN's Sam Kiley shows us, the destruction that resulted from that one missile is staggering.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the scene in Vynohradiv, the northern edge of Kyiv, where a cruise missile landed here in the small hours of this morning. Now officially, according to the authorities, it was shot down. Normally, that would mean that the warhead was destroyed in the air.
But, clearly, that is not the case.
Beyond this truck here, beyond the JCP working, a kindergarten. Mercifully, no children in it because of the level of bombardment of Kyiv, of course, the kindergartens are closed. At this right opposite, another school for older children.
But look at the ferocity of the blast. That is what remains of a vehicle, right at the epicenter of this blast, an absolute scene of devastation.
If we look over this way, you can see an extraordinary level of devastation in this very densely populated residential area.
These are homes, humble homes of ordinary Ukrainians, struggling to get by, working with dignity, hoping one day to join the European community, possibly even NATO and this, from Vladimir Putin's perspective, is the result. Now if we walk over this way, you can see just how devastating the size of these weapons. It's quite extraordinary. This is the result of one single blast, a blast that has ripped through this community, peppering cars with shrapnel holes.
Every one of those would have torn through dozens of people, every one of those bits of flying hot metal designed to rip into human flesh like a razor, white-hot and burning. And, of course, mercifully, no children playing in the kindergarten -- Sam Kiley, CNN in Kyiv.
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GORANI: Well, as the war spreads throughout Ukraine, everyday people are getting ready for the worst-case scenarios. CNN's Scott McLean talks to a group of civilians in Lviv, learning how to treat war wounds from an American veteran.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the kind of lesson that few people want to have to teach and fewer want to have to use in real life. It's basic first aid for a community coming to grips with the reality of war.
MARIAN PAKHOLOK, CIVIL ENGINEER (through translation): I'm afraid because we are not prepared. I am not a professional soldier but I understand it is better to meet the enemy being prepared and with the right skills.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Dr. Robert Lim is an American war veteran working with the global surgical and medical support group. It's bringing medics, doctors and surgeons to Ukraine to train civilians. It seems fun now but these scenarios may soon become reality.
The civilian training, held in a local gym, attracts engineers, teachers, dancers, all kinds of professions and age groups, including high school students suddenly forced by the war to put their own plans on hold.
VIKTORIA HLADKA, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I don't understand and know when I will in future study, because now it's hard time and I don't know what can be tomorrow.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Lim is teaching people battlefield survival skills and how to apply a tourniquet or how to keep an injured person breathing. With 23 years of experience as an army surgeon, he is also training doctors to prepare for the type of wounds rarely seen in civilians during peacetime.
DR. ROBERT LIM, VETERAN U.S. ARMY SURGEON: If you're in New York City or London or another big city, most of the injuries are blunt. So as a car accident or a fall or something like that, was most of the injuries in the battlefield are going to be penetrating wounds that might injure an artery or major vessel.
MCLEAN (voice-over): All with a small fraction of the resources they're used to.
LIM: Do what you can with what you've got.
MCLEAN (voice-over): In many parts of Ukraine, medical supplies and facilities are getting harder to come by. And in the worst hit areas, many hospitals are now operating in basements with only flashlights to avoid attracting Russian bomb.
[02:35:00]
MCLEAN (voice-over): Dr. Tania Boychuk is a dermatologist from Western Ukraine, one of dozens of medical professionals sharpening their skills for battle.
TANIA BOYCHUK, DERMATOLOGIST (through translation): In normal life, dermatologists do not provide first aid, do not stop bleeding, do not do tourniquets and punctures.
MCLEAN (voice-over): With her day job on hold, she's planning to join the military and she won't wait for the fighting to come to her.
BOYCHUK (through translation): I plan to go to the war front. My close friends are where now and I want to be there, too.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Scott McLean, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
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GORANI: Well, I will be back live from Lviv at the top of the hour. After the break, Paula Newton is in to look at just what role China could play in this crisis and what's at stake.
Plus, many Ukrainians and Russians fleeing the war are seeking asylum in the United States. But so far, it's been quite difficult to get in. We'll tell you why.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: So Ukraine was, of course, the overriding concern when the U.S. and Chinese leaders spoke by videolink Friday. President Biden wanted to make it clear that, if China provides support to Russia, there would be consequences.
The White House didn't give specifics, nor did Chinese state media. But it did release this quote from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Quote, "The world is neither peaceful nor tranquil. The Ukraine crisis is something we don't want to see."
Now could that mean that he does want to be somewhat of a peacemaker in this conflict?
Phil Mattingly takes a look.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's been palpable and increasingly public concern raised by U.S. officials about potential Chinese actions to aid Russia, either through economic or military support.
So much so that the issue was raised to the absolute highest level. Presidents Biden and Xi holding their first phone call in four months. A secure video call that lasted nearly two hours and focused, according to officials, almost entirely on Ukraine.
In that call, President Biden didn't make any explicit asks. But he did lay out the U.S. view of what has transpired over the course of the last four weeks as well as the scale of the united Western response when it comes to sanctions, military assistance, other issues.
The implication very clear: China needed to be warned about what could happen if they decide to engage. The concern, however, still remains. Take a listen.
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JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have that concern. The president detailed what the implications and consequences would be if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians. And that is something we'll be watching and the world will be watching.
China has to make a decision for themselves about where they want to stand and how they want the history books to look at them and view their actions. And that is a decision for President Xi and the Chinese to make.
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MATTINGLY: And that unified Western response will be on full display next week. President Biden heading to Europe for a hastily called meeting of NATO partners. He will also participate in a European Council meeting, will also participate in a G7 meeting called by Germany.
Again, it is that united Western front that the U.S. officials believe has provided so much power in terms of their response to Russia's actions and also could serve as a deterrent to China, particularly when it comes to European partners China has tried to establish relations with over the course of the last several weeks.
That, more than any other bilateral issues or maybe even singular sanctions threat, is what President Biden was attempting to convey to President Xi Jinping.
The question now is what will China do next?
U.S. officials made clear they will be watching very closely -- Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now earlier I spoke with the former U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke. I asked him how he expects China will pursue its own interests or whether or not it ends up helping Russia. Listen.
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GARY LOCKE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: I think that China is very much in a predicament. First of all, many of your CNN pictures and video of the tragedy, the massacre, the devastation and the suffering within Ukraine has been broadcasted throughout China.
And China has even reiterated publicly its respect and acknowledgment of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, that it is a separate country. And so I think China would be very, very hard pressed to justifying to its own people any type of military or economic aid to Russia, despite the close relationship that China has with Moscow.
Nonetheless, China has also seen just how swiftly, decisively and extensively the West has imposed sanctions on Russia.
So I'm sure that, in the conversations today between President Biden and President Xi of China, that President Biden reiterated the firm commitment of the United States and the West to impose sanctions, should China intervene on behalf of Russia.
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NEWTON: That was former U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke.
Now Ukrainians and Russians fleeing the war are having a difficult time entering the United States. CNN's Lucy Kafanov talks to some asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, who've now been there for days.
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LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At America's southern border, anguish and uncertainty for the war weary. Kristina was in Kyiv when Russia unleashed tear from the skies.
KRISTINA, UKRAINIAN ASYLUM SEEKER: I just wake up from bomb.
KAFANOV (voice-over): She fled first to Poland then France then Mexico, unable to bring her parents or brother along.
KRISTINA: They're just crying so much, just hugging so much. Goodbye and we don't know maybe they don't look each other anymore in this life.
KAFANOV: Too much. [02:45:00]
KAFANOV (voice-over): Traumatized, shaken, waiting for a chance to apply for asylum in the U.S.
KRISTINA: Two weeks, two weeks.
KAFANOV: Two weeks at this border and --
KRISTINA: Yes.
KAFANOV: -- you have not been able to cross --
KRISTINA: Yes.
KAFANOV: -- despite the fact that you're fleeing (ph) more.
KRISTINA: Yes, and here we are currently third time.
KAFANOV: Third time at this border.
KRISTINA: Yes. And we just tried to go there.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Sergei Fenig (ph), his wife, Yana (ph), and their two little ones fled Kharkiv as soon as the invasion began, before the Russians turned their home to rubble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
KAFANOV (voice-over): He said they're really hoping they'll be able to cross.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby says he wants to go to America.
KAFANOV (voice-over): An unreachable dream for many, with the U.S. southern border largely closed off to asylum seekers for the past two years, thanks to a controversial Trump era COVID health order known as Title 42.
Shortly after we spoke, Kristina and other Ukrainians were allowed to cross but they weren't the only one seeking refuge from Vladimir Putin's wrath.
KAFANOV: There is confusion at the border here in Tijuana. We saw some Ukrainians allowed to enter including those that have been turned away several time. This group consists of mostly Russians. They have been here for days. Their fate remains uncertain.
Patia Yaden (ph) and then her two children came from St. Petersburg. Her husband was arrested for protesting the invasion hours after was announced. He feared prison or forced conscription into the war.
She caught the last Aeroflot flight to Mexico hoping to gain refuge and safe haven in the U.S.
(Speaking foreign language). You tried to cross.
What do they tell you?
KAFANOV (voice-over): She says they were promised entry then told to wait. Six days later, they remain in limbo. No access to funds because of sanctions. A Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by CNN instructs Customs and Border Protection officers to consider exempting Ukrainians from Title 42.
An agency spokesman said other vulnerable individuals could be accepted on a case-by-case basis but no other nationality was singled out in the new guidance.
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NEWTON: Our thanks to Lucy Kafanov there.
Now a mixing of religion and politics is creating a messy situation in Russia. We'll look at the Russian patriarch, who calls Putin's government "a miracle of God." We have that for you, after the break.
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NEWTON: So in a show of solidarity, former U.S. Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton visited a Ukrainian church together in Chicago. You see them there. They both laid a bouquet of yellow sunflowers and held a moment of silence.
Mr. Bush said America stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine as they fight for their freedom and their future.
Now one Russian religious leader is in full support of the war in Ukraine and putting his blessing on the conflict. It comes with controversy, though, and is costing his some followers. CNN's Delia Gallagher has our story.
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DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Russian Orthodox Church is playing an important role in Putin's war in Ukraine. Its leader, Patriarch Kirill, who once called the Putin era "a miracle of God," is firmly in favor of war.
The Russian Orthodox are Christian. But Kirill's version, like Putin's idea of Russia, is based on a nationalistic reverie of a once great Russian world. And that world used to include Ukraine. In this nationalist view, the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox
Church were founded together, around the year 988 with the baptism of Vladimir I, The ruler of Kievan Rus, a territory including parts of modern day Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
The capital of Kievan Rus was not Moscow but Kiev. This is why Kyiv and Ukraine are so important to Putin and Patriarch Kirill. They want to return to the glory days of their medieval empire.
But Ukraine has been an independent country since 1991 and part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, for centuries linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, also officially severed ties to Moscow in 2019. Patriarch Kirill wants the Ukrainian church back.
"We must do everything we can to protect our common historical fatherland from all outside action," he said after the war began.
His influence is important for the roughly 100 million Russian Orthodox, who, even if they are not religious, identify deeply with the orthodox church. He accused Western countries, which he calls evil forces, of infiltrating Ukraine with liberal values in an effort to divide them from Russia.
He says the war is about quote, "a fundamental rejection of the so- called values offered today by those who claim world power," the test, he says, of which side you are on, is your country's willingness to hold gay pride parades.
The patriarch's support of the war is costing him followers. The Russian Orthodox Church in Amsterdam has severed ties; 12 Russian orthodox churches in Ukraine refuse to say his name during their divine liturgy. Around 300 Russian Orthodox priests and deacons signed an open letter, protesting the war, a risky act of disobedience in Russia.
The bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that are still connected to Moscow pleaded with him to call on Putin to stop the war. And the pope gave him an earful on Wednesday night via videolink --
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GALLAGHER: -- telling him there's no such thing as a just war and that, quote, "The church should not use the language of politics but the language of Jesus."
In 2019, the Kremlin spent tens of millions on lavish renovations for the patriarch's residence in St. Petersburg. On Sunday, Kirill presented an icon of Mary to the head of Russia's national guard in a Moscow cathedral as a blessing for the Russian troops in Ukraine.
A Christian leader in an unholy alliance with the president, blessing a war that is unleashing death and destruction -- Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
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NEWTON: So that does it for us this hour. I'm Paula Newton. Stay with us. Hala Gorani is back with our breaking coverage out of Ukraine.
