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Russia Bombs Ukraine Indiscriminately as Advance Stalls; Russia Bombed Mariupol School Sheltering 400 People; Former U.S. Marine Corps Traveled to Ukraine to Train Soldiers; Justice Clarence Thomas Still Expected to Participate Despite Being Hospitalized; 1 Dead, 24 Wounded in Arkansas Car Show Shooting; Caretakers Risk Their Lives to Save Ukrainian Orphans. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 20, 2022 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not like, you know, he can't do any competitions. He -- like the only thing he can do, like we can just some, like short walks and that's it. Yes, he's my family member.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I think we can all relate to that if we're animal lovers. We all love our animals so much. She clearly went through tremendous sacrifice to save her horse, save seven horses in all. And so many more animals have been left behind, so heartbreaking on so many levels. Please remember you can help, so many of you already have helped. Find out more at CNN.com/impact.
Your next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): We have to use any format, any chance or possibility of talking to Putin, but if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yet another horrifying attack on innocent civilians we're being told took place in the early hours of this morning in a place that's being described as hell on earth.
OLEKSANDR BEZIMOV, MARIUPOL REFUGEE (through translator): You should see it with your own eyes. It is a state of horror.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm sitting here with the secretary of Defense, and we're in a very tumultuous time. Are we going to be OK?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sirens have continued to go off here in the capital Kyiv as the Ministry of Defense on the Ukrainian armed forces continuing to claim that they're pushing the Russians back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You wake up during the night when you hear the sirens. You hear any little sound. You start to shake. Maybe I need to take my child and run away again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): 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.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BROWN: Our breaking news tonight, Kyiv's mayor says at least one person has been killed after more explosions rocked Ukraine's capital city.
Thank you so much for joining us in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington.
LEMON: Good to be with you, Pamela. I'm Don Lemon, live in Lviv, Ukraine.
Earlier this evening, heavy anti-aircraft fire erupted in the capital city of this country, Kyiv. Ukrainian troops fired at something, and we're going to get the very latest from our Fred Pleitgen live in Kyiv. That'll happen in just a moment. But this Thursday it's going to mark one month since Russia invaded Ukraine. And in the meantime, Vladimir Putin's troops have laid waste to cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol, while Ukrainian troops and many civilians fight to hold the Russian invasion at bay.
But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn't naive about this. He knows that negotiations with Putin are critical. Today, he told CNN that if they fail, he could see a, quote, "third world war." Yet the carnage continues here. Today, for instance, we learned about a Russian tank that reportedly opened fire on a nursing home in the eastern part of the country. Killing 56 elderly residents.
In Mariupol, where drone footage shows utter destruction, Putin's forces are also accused of shelling an art school, where 400 civilians that sought shelter, that number of casualties still unknown, and the Kremlin also bragging that it has now used hypersonic missiles for a second time.
President Joe Biden and NATO leaders will meet Thursday in Brussels for the most consequential gathering in decades. Today on CNN, Estonia's prime minister put it like this, Putin must not win this war.
And once again, I want to get to Kyiv where Fred Pleitgen is following all the latest developments for us.
Fred, we have heard that there's been at least one casualty from the explosions in that shopping district there. What else have you learned?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Don, isn't a very quiet night here in Kyiv. In fact, there's a lot of action going on above the city in the skies above the city. And since we last talked in the past hour, there has been again another air raid siren alarm that went off here in the capital about 10 minutes ago. Unclear whether or not anything had happened there, but you're absolutely right.
It was about 2 1/2 hours ago that we heard that very heavy explosion. That happened about 6 1/2 miles from our position in the northeast of Kyiv and we have now learned, as you said, that at least one person was killed when there was some sort of impact, some sort of explosion, unclear whether or not that was a rocket dropping, a missile or possibly an aerial bomb, but it certainly seemed to have hit a shopping mall, as the authorities here say, and a parking lot as well. Apparently, there are 68 firefighters who are fighting blazes there. That's how big that explosion was. Again, not clear whether or not that place was directly targeted.
[20:05:02]
Hard to see why because quite frankly, there really don't seem to be any military targets out there, or whether or not possibly the Russians were shooting some large rocket here towards the city and maybe that was intercepted by a surface-to-air missile system. And you know, what we've have seen tonight, Don, and we can see it on our screen right now is that there has been a lot of anti-aircraft fire by the Ukrainian Defense Forces here over the Ukrainian capital.
At one point, we saw surface-to-air missiles being launched and those anti-aircraft cannons being launched as well. A sort of illuminated dot flying over the city, unclear whether or not that may have been a Russian plane, a Russian jet, or some sort of Russian rocket flying over here, but certainly you could see a pretty big reaction from the anti-aircraft cannons as that was going on.
So in summary, right now certainly a very busy night for the air defenses here in Kyiv, and certainly a very scary one for a lot of the residents, of course, who have been living through all this for almost a month now -- Don.
LEMON: No doubt. Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much. Appreciate that.
You know, right now, Mariupol is a scene of some of the worst Russia has to give, really. Much of the city has been obliterated by explosives designed from maximum destruction with clearly no thought given to the people trying to shelter from the near constant bombardment that's going on.
Ukraine's foreign minister called Russia's actions today in Mariupol, quote, and I quote here, "a chapter from World War II."
CNN's Phil Black has disturbing details now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the buildings being destroyed in Mariupol had been crowded with desperate people, civilians hoping to find refuge from Russia's assault. The city council says that now includes a bombed school thought to be sheltering hundreds of people, including women, children, the elderly.
Have any survived? No one knows for sure. A local official says there is nowhere to get the information from.
Mariupol's civil collapse is total. It's been days since we heard anything about efforts to rescue people from this site. The last report said 130 people were pulled from the debris of the theater where around 1,000 or more were said to be sheltering. Mostly in the basement.
This video was shot inside the theater before the attack. The Russian word for children spelled out on the ground outside in huge letters. Didn't prevent the strike, which destroyed most of this building.
Caterina (INAUDIBLE) lived across from that theater and delivered food and other aid to the people hiding out there. She says it's difficult to describe the sympathy she felt for them. They were terrified. Cowering in horror at the sounds of planes overhead, always afraid of a bomb dropping.
Alevtina Shvetsova lived under Russian attack in Mariupol for 21 days. This is not just a city, she says. This is my whole life. She survived without power in freezing conditions with little food, with eight other members of her family until the building was hit. They pulled dead neighbors from the rubble and decided to leave the city.
Alevtina says she can't imagine life without Mariupol. She will return, but now in her burning city, there are lots of people, lots of children under rubble. Others in shelters.
The journey out of the besieged city is slow and dangerous. But every day, relatively small numbers are leaving whatever way they can, along what are supposed to be agreed corridors. A local official says some people have been fired upon. Others have had their vehicles seized at Russian checkpoints.
The people of Mariupol have no good options. Stay and endure the horror of Russia's bombardment or face danger and uncertainty leaving all they know behind.
Phil Black, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Phil, thank you very much.
Listen, Pam, it is an inhumane treatment, what's happening to the people of Ukraine, but to children, I mean, that is another level of disgusting.
BROWN: Unfathomable. That's what it is. Another level of disgusting, you're absolutely right, Don.
Well, after nearly a month of hard-fought battles, Ukraine, as we were just talking about, is bloodied but it is not beaten. And earlier tonight, British defense officials said Russian troops in southern Ukraine have made little progress in the past week, and there's a general sense among military analysts that Russia wasn't prepared for such fierce resistance. Here's analysis from retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I believe the Russians had a shock and awe campaign planned. That they would rush in, get down to Kyiv quickly, depose Zelenskyy, put in their own puppet regime, and then let the Ukrainians accept that as a fait accompli and move on. What they have found on is quite the opposite.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
[20:10:13]
BROWN: Joining me now is Zachary Burgart, a retired force reconnaissance Marine and Iraq combat veteran who traveled to Ukraine shortly after this war began to help train the Ukrainians to fight.
Welcome to you, Zachary. So I want to get into just your journey over there, but I also want to talk about your background here. You are a fellow combat veteran, you and a fellow combat veteran named Mark and a Ukrainian man named Yuri decided to make this trip. You told "The Washington Post" you served in the Marines for 14 years but you felt more of a need to head toward this war than any you'd fought in before. Why?
ZACHARY BURGART, IRAQ WAR COMBAT VETERAN: Yes, and thank you for having me on. This war just felt so incredibly unjust, uncalled for, and gruesome. I mean, the whole world is watching it slowly unfold during the Olympics and then afterwards, I was in shock that it actually happened. Three days after -- after the war started, our friend Yuri said he was going to go back, and Mark and I being combat veterans wouldn't let him go alone. We decided to go with him and to figure out how we could help once we got there.
BROWN: And getting there, I know, was its own adventure. But tell me what you found when you arrived. What kind of people were showing up for this fight? What was their training like?
BURGART: So it wasn't only the men that we see and think of that showed up for this fight. It was the women and younger people that showed up to make cameo netting and gymnasiums, large areas, old storage that got turned into war effort places. And the men we saw, every walk of life. Young to old. There's a man there that was older than my mom's boyfriend who passed away when I was in high school.
And these men were ready and willing and excited. A lot of the men we found had moved back to Ukraine from Europe and other places, specifically to fight in this war for their country, for their people, for their birthplace, for the love of Ukraine.
BROWN: And I know you talked about in this article you wrote about your experience that a lot of them didn't have sophisticated training experience. I mean, these were not people who necessarily had been preparing for months and years for war, right? I mean, some of these people, as you lay out, kind of joined the fight as Russia was invading, right? And didn't have a ton of training. So you were there to really help them with that.
BURGART: Right. And that was not our intention when we went. But we were reconnaissance marines. We get on the ground and we figure out what needs to be done. And in talking to the local military commanders, we asked what they needed, and they said they didn't have anyone that knew any infantry tactics. All their men had been sent to the front lines. And what they had now was this new territorial defense militia that had nothing.
And between Mark and I, we trained troops in over a dozen countries for over 20 years. And we figured we could help. We asked them if we could help and they said yes, and they let us help. But yes, you're right. They didn't have -- a lot of them didn't even have a weapon at the time. And if they did have a weapon, it had one magazine and jeans or a track suit and a light jacket and sneakers or maybe boots. And we were training out in five-inch snow and these men were not complaining, not griping. They were ready.
BROWN: They were ready. And it was interesting, too, you pointed out in your article that one of the needs they had were these uniforms and how important uniforms are, and you said -- this really stuck out to me, you said it was almost like backyard paintball but with the horrific human toll. Tell us what you meant by that.
BURGART: Yes, that's absolutely right. So when we first showed up, a lot of the militia didn't have any uniform at all, like I said, track suits, jeans, light jackets, any type of footwear, but they all had a red piece of tape on their sleeve. And I asked, you know, in the American military, sometimes we do like a marking on the sleeve or on a button and it means some type of a duty. And I asked what the yellow tape meant, they said we wear that because we're Ukrainians. The Russians wear red.
And it was like it was heavy. It was big. And it did. It felt like, you know, I grew up playing paintball by the river, and it felt like it was that.
[20:15:01]
You know, and looking on pictures in the news, at that point in time, it was. It really felt like it looked like the Russians were in red and the Ukrainians were in yellow, and that's -- it was heavy. It was big.
BROWN: Yes. And like you said, you have been in other combat theaters. You have seen a lot. You say you have never seen a war like this before.
Zachary Burgart, we appreciate you coming on the show and telling us about your experience.
BURGART: Thank you so much. Just so I can tell the people, if they want to help with the mission, Operation Overwatch Foundation, USA.org if they want to help and are able to help and donate, we're sourcing medical kits, tourniquets and clothing to help send to Ukraine on our return trip. And thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.
BROWN: I'm glad you got that out there because that is what they said they needed on the ground. You heard it first-hand, so I'm glad that you are letting our viewers know how they can help. Thank you so much.
BURGART: Thank you, Pamela.
BROWN: We're following breaking news this hour. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the hospital tonight with flu-like symptoms. Jeffrey Toobin joins me live.
Also ahead, too tiny to understand the meaning of war. Yet all too aware of its cruelty. The Ukrainian orphans rescued from one city now pinned down in the capital.
And another weekend of senseless gun violence in the U.S. A spate of shootings including six innocent children wounded at a car show. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:40]
BROWN: We have this news just in to us now on the CNN NEWSROOM. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is in a hospital right now. We're told that he has flu-like symptoms. According to a court press release, Justice Thomas has been undergoing tests and is being treated with antibiotics.
CNN Chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here. So, you know, Jeffrey, these days obviously the words flu-like symptoms land a little differently now when we hear that, but the justices are scheduled to take the bench tomorrow morning. What happens when one of the justices is sick because the press release says he is likely to be released in a day or two?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Different things can happen. What usually happens is the justice who is not present listens to an audio of the oral argument and then just votes and participates normally. If they are able to participate in the conference, the voting process, and then the opinion writing process. If they are really sick, they don't participate in any of that.
You know, I certainly don't want to overstate what I or anyone knows about Justice Thomas' condition. Based on what the court released, it doesn't sound that serious. It says he will be released in a day or two. One obvious important thing we will all be watching is, does he appear in court on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday? That will be a sign of whether he is really recovered or not.
He is 73 years old. As far as we know, he has not been hospitalized for anything before this. This may be a blip, not all that serious. We just don't know. BROWN: Right. We're just working off of this press release from the
Supreme Court. But it would have to be pretty serious, right, for a justice to miss out on the cases this week.
TOOBIN: They don't like to miss court. And also, you know, they know that we in the news media and in the public have unfortunately a kind of ghoulish interest in their health. But the fact is, they serve for life tenure, so we are interested in their medical condition. You know, Stephen Breyer was 83 when he stepped down. John Paul Stevens was 90 when he stepped down. David Souter was 71 when he stepped down.
It's -- the health issues are, you know, of great consequence. And Clarence Thomas is now the senior associate justice on the court, the longest tenured associate justice, served since 1991. I think many people remember perhaps the most contentious and dramatic confirmation hearings in the history of the court where Anita Hill accused him of sexual misconduct. He has been the most conservative voice on the court.
The court has very much come to him over these three decades. He has, you know, become very much part of the mainstream of the court because the court is so much more conservative. So, you know, any potential vacancy or departure or even temporary absence from the court is important. He would be especially important.
BROWN: He certainly would. I mean, it's just a lot going on on the Supreme Court front. You've got this plus the first day of confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson.
TOOBIN: It's a big day for the court, but obviously, Clarence Thomas -- and I don't want to overstate the potential, if he were to leave, it would be a much more consequential vacancy for President Biden to fill because he would presumably fill it with someone who would be much more liberal, whereas Judge Jackson is looking to replace Justice Breyer.
BROWN: Exactly. That's a good point.
TOOBIN: So the ideological balance of the court if Judge Jackson is confirmed really wouldn't change much. If Justice Thomas were to leave and there is no suggestion in the court's statement that he is planning or likely to leave, but if he were to leave, that would be an earthquake at the Supreme Court.
BROWN: An earthquake for sure. All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much.
Russia has launched nearly 1100 missiles since the start of this invasion. What would happen if it actually controlled Ukraine's air space? Former NATO Supreme Allied commander retired General Wesley Clark joins me next to talk about it.
[20:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Here from Lviv, Ukraine, we have been reporting tonight on loud explosions heard in the capital of Kyiv. We just got video of one huge blast. I want you to take a look at this, and I'll look at it while you are as well. This is from CCTV and it is silent, again, we just got this in. It's from the blast in Kyiv. So you can almost feel the force of the explosion just watching this video.
Look at that, you can see debris flying everywhere. All the debris flying around there. And we know from the mayor of Kyiv that several residential and business areas were hit by explosions tonight. At least one person was reported killed.
[20:30:03]
Again, that video is just in to CNN. And it's from -- it's a CCTV footage. Also, there was an art school in Mariupol, it was bombed, adding to the list of unprovoked attacks on Russians -- excuse me, unprovoked attack by the Russians who have launched at civilian targets in Ukraine. More than 7,000 people were evacuated from that city today through several humanitarian corridors.
Ukraine's president says that the war won't end without negotiations with Putin and warning that if his attempts to fail -- if his attempts fail, it could see, we could see a world war three happening.
Britain's military says Russian forces still don't have control over Ukraine's air space. They're launching attacks from within the safety of Russia, including those hypersonic missiles.
So I want to talk to retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark now. He is a former NATO Supreme Allied commander.
And General, we're so happy to have you here to talk about all of this. That assessment about Russia's failure to control the air space over Ukraine so far it comes from British intelligence, a British intelligence report. Do you concur with that report? They say that that's why Russia is using its standoff weapons? Is that -- do you believe that's so?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I do. I think the Russians have found that it's a little dangerous and risky to send their airplanes continuously over Ukrainian air space. It's a little hard to understand because you would think, Don, that they do control this air space. They've got a lot of advanced technology, but Ukraine, it's a big country, and it's tough for them to cover all of it with reconnaissance and take out what's there, and so they get ambushed, and they've lost a number of aircraft and helicopters. So yes, they're being cautious. And this is definitely slowing up their campaign.
LEMON: I want to look at these new satellite images that show massive flooding from a dam. It was northwest of Ukraine that could hinder Russian troop movements. More difficult -- how much more difficult could this make for Russians to keep advancing? It's up, the images are up now. How much more difficult could it make for Russians to keep advancing? CLARK: They're not going anywhere in that flooded terrain I can tell
you. And I've been told by some in Ukraine that the Russian tanks, some of them are mired up in mud four and five feet deep. So there will be many weeks before those tanks can be recovered. I assume they had been abandoned and left there. And probably the Ukrainians will engage and destroy -- just to destroy them. So it is an effective tactic, and it does block off mobility.
And that coupled with the soft ground that's traditional at this time of year because of the spring thaw does make Russian maneuver very difficult in the vicinity of Kyiv. There are too much for them for their own sake. There are too much road (INAUDIBLE). So this makes them easier targets. And it's one of the reasons why the Ukrainian defense has been so successful.
LEMON: General, I had the distinct honor of traveling around the region with the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. I got to ask him about his assessment of the Russian military. Let's take a listen to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What's your assessment of the Russian military?
LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It's hard to tell, Don. I think, you know, they have not progressed as quickly as they would have liked to. I think they envisioned that they would move rapidly and very quickly seize the capital city. They have not been able to do that. They have struggled with logistics, so we have seen a number of missteps along the way. I don't see, you know, evidence of good employment of tactical intelligence.
I don't see integration of air capability with the ground maneuver. And so there are a number of things that we would expect to have seen that we just haven't seen. And the Russians really have had -- presented some problems. So many of their assumptions have not proven to be true, as they entered this fight.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: General, you're the perfect person to comment on this. Do you agree with his evaluation?
CLARK: Absolutely. I think he's nailed it, Don. The Russians have had a really hard time. And this is sort of symptomatic of the way the Russian military has always approached operations. They're a very top- down military. In the United States Military, we aren't. We do our reconnaissance, we collect information, we bring that information up to the top. The Russians have cut and dried plays.
They figure out what they're going do and they order downward for it to be done. Worked pretty well in the Second World War. Would have worked in Ukraine if the ground had been frozen, they would have simply said move, but when they put that plan in place for Kyiv, the people who ordered that attack from the north didn't have the information they needed about what the ground conditions were like. [20:35:01]
Now they are making better progress in other parts of Ukraine. But this time of year, anywhere in Ukraine, offroad movement is difficult. And this is a typical flaw of the Russian military. That plan, as we're told, was hatched by just a few people very close to Putin. And it looked right on paper but it hasn't worked out that way. And now the Russian military advances, as Secretary Austin, said it's stalled out. So it's a battle of logistics and reorganization at this point.
And it's competitive. Can we get enough supplies in to the Ukrainians that they can rush out and destroy these stranded Russian forces before Mariupol falls, before those forces consolidate and move on to other Ukrainian objectives? Or will the Russians be able to push more supplies, more people, more equipment in on top of what they already have and somehow reconstitute and reinvigorate their offensive? That's where we are right now.
LEMON: General, always a pleasure having you on and hearing your expertise. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
CLARK: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Pamela.
BROWN: All right, thanks so much, Don. You know, we're learning a lot from you on the ground there in Ukraine. And you can use up all of the words in the world and still not fully capture the sheer carnage unleashed by Vladimir Putin on this peaceful democratic country.
We're going to pause right now and just let the pictures and the people right at the center of this tragedy speak for themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the parents, though, it's really traumatizing. And we've been talking to people who have left behind parents and grandparents, who are still under Russian bombardment. People who are now trying to figure out where to take their families left, if there are other safe places in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I feel completely in pain. Pain for our children. Pain for the future of the country. Because children are the future of the country. When they kill children, they kill the future of this country.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground. Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us.
LEMON: We're in a very tumultuous time. Are we going to be OK?
AUSTIN: We will be. We'll get through this. And hopefully we'll get through this and Ukraine will be a thriving country here in the not- too-distant future. BEZIMOV (through translator): You should see it with your own eyes,
how people cook food in the courtyard of a residential building and then somewhere hears a plane coming and shouts, in the air, and the whole crowd rushes to the porch to take shelter. It is a state of horror when you walk around the city and see shell craters everywhere. I haven't seen my son since March 2nd.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:04]
BROWN: An update for you now on the health of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Tonight, we have learned that he was admitted to the hospital Friday with flu-like symptoms. A spokesperson just confirmed to CNN that the justice does not have COVID-19 and his illness is not COVID related. According to a court press release, Justice Thomas has been undergoing test tests. He was diagnosed with an infection and is now being treated with antibiotics. He's said to be doing better and expects to be released from the hospital in a day or two.
Well, the search is on for the two suspects involved in a chaotic and violent shooting at a car show in Arkansas. One person is dead, two dozen others are wounded. Among them, six children. This incident just one of several deadly shootings across the country this weekend.
CNN's Isabel Rosales is following this for us.
So, Isabel, do we know why the shooting at the car show started?
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Pamela. Arkansas State Police say that two people got into a gun fight there and that this was not intended to be a mass shooting incident. They have arrested a person that left the scene, but they say that that person was arrested on unrelated charges. Altogether, a 23-year-old man, Cameron Schaefer, that's his name, he was killed. 28 others were wounded.
Pamela, that's including children. The youngest being 19 months old. Arkansas Children's Hospital say that they all had non-life- threatening injuries, rather. The head of state police said that the shooting has rocked this quiet community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. BILL BRYANT, ARKANSAS STATE POLICE: It's shocking. We have a small community, a farming community in Dumas. You know, 5,000 people. And then we have an incident of multi-victims. It's just -- you know, you don't expect that from small town Arkansas.
WALLACE MCGHEE, AUTO SHOW ORGANIZER: It was some shooting that happened in the day, man, and we don't really know what happened, you know what I'm saying? But we just want to send our prayers, all our condolences to our friends and community.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:07]
ROSALES: Meanwhile, take a look at this map right here. You can see that that's just one of several shootings happening in the southeast over the weekend. Three people were shot and killed in a hotel in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You can see it right there taped off. Two other people were also injured. In Houston, four teenagers were shot, one of them killed after a fight broke out outside of a 16th birthday party.
In Miami, gunfire caused massive panic along the busy and iconic Ocean Drive there. Thousands of people were there celebrating spring break. Thankfully in that incident, no one was killed. And then another incident hitting closer to home here at CNN Atlanta. "Virginian Pilot" newspaper reporter Sierra Jenkins, she was shot and killed in Norfolk, Virginia, there. An argument started outside of a restaurant, and gunshots rang out.
She was a former CNN intern and news assistant. In that situation, one other person was killed, three others were injured. We've also heard from her father, Jenkins' father, who described her as well loved by everyone, hard-working, and that she was so, so proud of being a journalist.
Pamela, she was only 25 years old.
BROWN: Yes, she had just turned 25. So sad. So much senseless loss due to gun violence.
Isabel Rosales, thank you very much.
Well, they are the youngest victims of Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine. Orphaned babies and toddlers who survived Russian bombardment but are still in danger. We'll have more on that after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:51:11]
LEMON: We are back now live from Lviv. Air raid sirens have been going off for a couple of minutes now. We did not get the all-clear from the sirens that happened about an hour or so ago but they are going off now. I'll let you listen to it a little bit.
So, the sirens happen with an announcement as well, sometimes the sirens are louder, a little bit louder, and then the announcement comes on and the sirens, the volume goes down so that you can hear the announcement from the person who is making it.
So there you go. It is a very eerie sound because you can hear it and then it repeats in a distance, in the distance from another loudspeaker that maybe a few miles away so you can hear it in a number of different places. And the same thing repeating just a couple seconds later. If you have ever, you know, had a stereo on and you hear the speaker and there is sort of an echo coming, that's kind of what it sounds like but we did not get the all-clear from earlier on these air raid sirens.
We are told by the people who've been here longer than I have, who've been here for two, three weeks, four weeks now. They're saying they occasionally go off usually starting around 3:00 a.m. It's just a little bit before 3:00 a.m. and now they are going off here in Lviv and so we will continue to watch, take notice of this. But there is something very important that we want to talk about now.
We want to talk about people, young people who survived the Russian bombardment. But a group of rescued Ukrainian orphans still in danger. This is what I was speaking to our Salma Abdelaziz about just moments ago. Here it is, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): They are too tiny to understand the meaning of war, but these orphans are already victim to its cruelty. They are among the 71 children that were rescued from the hard-hit northern city of Sumy. Many are disabled, all under the age of 4. Some requiring constant medical attention.
These are the kids from a Sumy orphanage, the doctor in the video says. They were evacuated yesterday and miraculously they brought them here to Kyiv. Their journey was very difficult, he says.
For two weeks, caretakers sheltered the babies and toddlers from Russian bombardment in a basement, and when a humanitarian corridor finally opened, they made the dangerous journey here to the capital. Each little one arrived with an orange tag with minimal details. Name, birth date and their most urgent medical needs.
We were able to track down four of the children now at Kyiv's City Heart Center. Over a shaky video connection, the staff told us of their harrowing journey. All the children were packed across just four ambulances with only two doctors among them.
OKSANA, NURSE, KYIV CITY HEART CENTER: Just four baby in the car journey from Sumy to Kyiv during six hours. Without a doctor, just a driver. Just a driver.
ABDELAZIZ: Now the babies are receiving the medical attention they require, but with Russian forces shelling Kyiv, they are still not safe. Nurse Oksana has a simple plea.
OKSANA: Children, don't die.
ABDELAZIZ (on-camera): You don't want children to die?
OKSANA: Yes, yes.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But in an unprovoked war where the most innocent are targeted, there are few guarantees.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Lviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [20:55:06]
LEMON: Beautiful children. We hope that they are all OK. And Pamela, by the way, the air raid sirens have stopped here for the moment but we'll keep close watch. So thank you, everyone, for joining us this evening. I'm Don Lemon, live from Lviv.
BROWN: Be safe there, Don. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. I'll see you again next weekend.
A special "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" is next.
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