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Scores of Children Evacuated from Orphanage in Sumy; Putin Lays Out Demands in Call with Erdogan; U.K. Says Russia Has Failed to Gain Control of Ukraine's Airspace; U.N. Says 6.5 Million Have Been Displaced in Ukraine, 1.5 Million of Them Children; Ukrainians Fearful of Russian Operatives among Them; Russians in Romania Protest War in Ukraine; Ballet Stars Unite for Fundraising Gala. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 20, 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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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world and in the United States as well this hour. I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.
A safe escape for dozens of children trapped by the fighting in Ukraine. We're now learning that 71 kids from an orphanage in the northeastern city of Sumy have safely been evacuated. Officials say the children, many of whom are disabled and all under the age of 4, spent two weeks in a basement shelter from attacks.
The conflict, though, is showing no signs of slowing down. Ukrainian officials say another Russian general was killed last week amid fierce fighting near Kherson in southern Ukraine. CNN cannot independently verify those claims.
On Saturday, officials in the U.S. did confirm that Russia launched hypersonic missiles, ones similar to what you see here on your screen, against Ukraine. Russia says they were used to target an ammunition warehouse on Friday. This is the first time that we know of that hypersonic missiles have been used in combat.
And yet a new report from British intelligence says Russian forces still have not managed to gain air superiority over Ukraine.
And take a look at these distressing satellite images that show what is left of that theater in Mariupol that was bombed on Wednesday. Officials believe hundreds of people were sheltering inside when the Russian attack hit. Despite the relentless assaults, Ukraine's president says his people will continue to fight for their country.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukrainians have proven that they can fight more professionally than an army that has been waging wars for decades in various regions and conditions. We respond with wisdom and courage to the great number of their equipment and soldiers sent to Ukraine.
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GORANI: Well, CNN's Sam Kiley is on the ground in Kyiv, where intense fighting continues around the capital city.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sirens have continued to go off here in the capital of Kyiv, as the ministry of defense on the Ukrainian armed forces continuing to claim that they are pushing the Russians back.
They've been fighting them hard in the north of the city, to the southwest, west and indeed to the east. They've inflicted casualties, some of which have been caught on video.
These are Russian soldiers who have been killed fighting here. And according to the Ukrainians, the Russians are running out of logistical support, out of weapons and they have been pushed back at least 70 kilometers in the east.
Now we have got no independent verification of that. But clearly there has been slight shift in tactics by the Russians here, using long- range missiles to attack the capital rather than artillery, which would indicate that their artillery has now been either destroyed or pushed further away.
But miserable scenes have also been witnessed on the other side, if you like, down in the south of the country in Mykolaiv, where there is now images coming of mass casualties among Ukrainian forces, after their barracks were hit in air attacks on Friday.
Scenes in the hospital, very bloody scenes indeed. And no great surprise that there are people bloodied and damaged and mortally wounded in the hospital, because there were more than 200 soldiers in this location.
In a city that has fought very determined defense, indeed, against the attempts by the Russians to capture that port city and push on to Odessa. It'd been a critical fight there and one that, so far, the Ukrainians have managing to sustain quite well.
In -- further east, though, in Mariupol, a continued bombardment there. And now, we are getting reports of people forced, in the words of the local administration, into the hands of Russians and suffering some kind of screening process, even allegations they are being shipped off to remote parts of Russia.
We don't have independent information on that. But that would be consistent with attempts by the Russians in the past to force refugees out into their territory, rather than into the hands of the Ukrainian government -- Sam Kiley, CNN, in Kyiv.
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GORANI: Well, we're also learning new details about a call between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkey's president on Thursday.
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GORANI: According to Turkish officials, Mr. Putin laid out a specific set of demands for a peace deal in Ukraine. Turkey also offered to host negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. Let's get more and bring in CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She is joining us live from Istanbul.
What more can you tell us about this call?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, this is not new. The Turkish government, the Turkish president really has been trying to mediate between the two sides. Turkey, a key NATO member, NATO's second largest army, does also maintain a very good relationship with Russia. They've got economic and defense ties.
And also President Erdogan does have a really good working relationship with President Putin. So what they've been trying to do is to bring both sides together, also utilizing the really good relationship President Erdogan has with President Zelenskyy and with Ukraine.
And we have seen some success, Hala, basically, when the Turkish foreign minister managed to host a trilateral meeting here in Turkey just last week between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers.
But what Turkey has really been working toward is to try and bring both President Zelenskyy and Putin together. President Erdogan has offered to hold a summit here in Turkey, inviting them to Istanbul or to Ankara.
But here's what Turkish officials are telling us, that, in these ongoing phone calls between President Putin and President Erdogan, the latest we know of, at least publicly, was on Thursday, according to a chief adviser to President Erdogan, saying that he doesn't think that they're going to be able to hold these talks soon because President Putin has these demands.
None of this is new, really, Hala. We know the Russian position, when it comes to their key demands, the so-called denazification, neutralizing and demilitarization of Ukraine. But according to Turkish officials, they believe that perhaps the Ukrainians and the Russians are getting to a closer position when it comes to negotiating these issues.
But what remains a serious contentious issue for both sides really is the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the sovereignty of Ukrainian territory. They say that President Putin is not changing his stance on the Crimea region and the Donbas region, where he wants these to be seen as independent territory.
And we know the Ukrainian position on this is it's a red line when it comes to territorial integrity.
So basically, Turkish officials are saying, Hala, that, right now, they don't believe, according to President Putin telling President Erdogan that they're not close to having these face-to-face talks or these leader-to-leader talks just yet, because of the difference of opinion when it comes to these issues, Hala.
GORANI: All right, Jomana Karadsheh in Istanbul, thanks very much.
A former Ukrainian leader is calling on the American President Biden to show solidarity with Ukraine by coming to visit this country. The former president, Petro Poroshenko, made the appeal in an interview with CNN Saturday.
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PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I know that President Biden plans to go to visit Europe next week. And I think that he analyzing the possibility.
Why don't very good friend of mine and very good friend of Ukraine, Joe Biden, the leader of the global world, who demonstrate now the leadership, why don't he can visit Kyiv next week?
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GORANI: That was Petro Poroshenko. The former president also had a message for Europeans and other Western countries. The gist of it was, our fight is your fight, too, and we are taking it on for you.
I'm joined now by Ukrainian Parliament member Ivanna Klympush- Tsintsadze.
Thank you for joining us.
She chairs a committee in charge of Ukraine's integration into the E.U. And she's live in Kyiv.
You're still in Kyiv. You haven't left.
What is it like there right now?
IVANNA KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE, UKRAINIAN MP: As I was saying earlier, the city is becoming like a fortress. So a lot of people have left. And the streets of Kyiv during the day are totally empty; obviously, during the night, even more so.
But at the same time the preparations for defense of the defense of the capital are ongoing. And this is cooperation and coordination between the armed forces, the territorial defense and the society, those Ukrainians and those Kyivites that are staying here and are not allowing themselves to leave.
I mean, because it is our city, we were born here, we were raised here and we believe nobody can and should be able to take it from us.
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GORANI: Do you have any hope whatsoever for any kind of diplomatic track to yield any results?
We heard that the Turks are happy to host any kind of Putin-Zelenskyy summit.
Do you think there's a glimmer of hope there or not?
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: You know, every war, at some point, finishes by some peace agreement or capitulation. And I think we have to understand that Ukraine, at this moment, is not ready to capitulate.
And that means that all the ultimatums of Russian Federation cannot be delivered. So therefore I do not have any expectations, any closer to midterm, from the negotiations that are being held.
The only thing that we might be getting from those negotiations -- but not probably on the top level -- is the possibility to evacuate our people from those areas that are most badly shelled on and most badly attacked or under siege, like Mariupol.
GORANI: And speaking of Mariupol, have you been at all able to confirm these reports that some Mariupol residents are being forcibly moved to Russian territory?
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: That was the information we received yesterday from adviser to the mayor of Mariupol.
And he was saying about one of the specific shelters, where more than 1,000 people were trying to escape from the bombs and were trying to hide from the bombs, that Russian occupying force has actually grabbed them and sent them, deported forcefully to the Russian Federation.
But that's not the first case. We have had, in earlier days, we have also had reports of this similar behavior of Russian occupying troops in the north part of Kharkiv region, in the villages.
They were not letting people go inside Ukraine and flee to the safer regions or to flee abroad through the Western borders. But they were forcefully taking Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian villagers from Ukrainian village and deport them into Russian Federation. We've seen that before. We've seen that during Stalin's time.
We've seen whole nations being deported, like Crimean Tatars in 1944. So that is exactly what is happening. And I think that lies in line with this denazification of Putin.
He wants to ensure that we Ukrainians are not able to raise our voice. And we would have to be disseminated all across Siberian region of Russian Federation. That was happening to us during Soviet time in the concentration camps.
We were there. Our grandparents were there. And so he is afraid of this free spirit of Ukrainians we are showing to the world. GORANI: You are of the chair of the committee of Ukraine's
integration into the European Union. You called "appalling" Macron's decision to rule out fast-tracking Ukraine's E.U. membership.
Do you think that, as the war drags on, that perhaps that position from E.U. countries might shift?
KLYMPUSH-TSINTSADZE: I am seeing the shift in the position of E.U. countries.
We are working constantly through online meetings with our colleagues from those countries, specifically from those countries who are still hesitant to fast-track, first and foremost, giving Ukraine the candidate status into the E.U. that would open up the possibilities for us to further transform the country for the full membership.
And I can see that the shift is happening, which is needed to be happening faster. And in more coherence, so to say, to expectations of Ukrainians, that the E.U. is really about values, that the E.U. countries are really about those rights that they've been declaring all these years.
GORANI: All right. I hope you stay safe in Kyiv. Thank you so much, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, live from the Ukrainian capital, a member of Parliament, who has remained in Kyiv since the invasion began, has not left.
Just ahead on CNN, lives turned upside down.
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GORANI: We'll take an in-depth look at the massive refugee crisis created by Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.
And we'll take a look at what life is like inside makeshift shelters for those fleeing the fighting. We'll be right back.
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JULIA VOLOK, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE (from captions): I feel like 100 percent better because I sleep -- I start to sleep well because there is no sirens and I don't need to worry about will I wake up tomorrow or not.
Because I know many people in my country, unfortunately, they slept one night and they couldn't wake up the next day. And it's very hard to fall asleep when you see news, when you see everything and you see that they would come to you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GORANI: Well, Ukrainians like her, who have escaped across the border, are the lucky ones; I guess you could call them that. The U.N. says nearly 850 civilians have been killed and about 1,400 injured so far, numbers that are likely to climb higher as Russia's war on this country grinds on.
The flow of refugees and internally displaced people is growing by the day. Ukraine says more than 6,600 people were evacuated through humanitarian corridors on Saturday alone.
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GORANI: And more than 3.3 million have fled the country since the fighting began. While there are many evacuations from Mariupol, the city is still under siege and many civilians are still taking shelter there from Russian attacks. One resident describes life in what is left of his town.
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OLEKSANDR BEZIMOV, MARIUPOL REFUGEE (through translator): You should see it with your own eyes, how people cook food in the courtyard of a residential building and then someone 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, when you don't know who stays where. I haven't seen my son since March 2nd.
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GORANI: Ukraine's president calls the misery that Russia has brought to Mariupol a war crime.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The besieged Mariupol will go down in history as an example of the responsibility for war crimes. What the occupiers have done to Mariupol is an act of terror that will be remembered for centuries.
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GORANI: The U.N. says some 6.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting in Ukraine. And it all happened so quickly, in under a month. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz looks at what life is like in a shelter for some of those people from their homes.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're at a gym in Lviv University. In peacetime, this gym would be where you would see wrestling matches potentially. But now it's being used to house dozens of displaced people. As you can see, no privacy here. People right beside each other. Some of them have been here for weeks. I'm going to kneel down and show you what their accommodations are
like. This is just a basic wood pallet here. You can see that's just been laid down on this gym floor. And over it here is just a very thin mattress, very thin bedding. By no means is this comfortable or ideal for any of the families who are here.
Many of them fleeing from some of the worst-affected areas, like Kharkiv, Kherson and, again, they've been sitting here for weeks with nothing but what they could carry on their backs.
I've also noticed a few pets here, people's dogs and cats that they were able to bring with them.
I've asked them, what's the plan?
Are they going to move further West across the Polish border, try to make it into the rest of Europe?
But some of them are just waiting it out, hoping, despite these horrific reports that we're hearing from Eastern Ukraine, hoping that they will be able to return home.
In the meanwhile, of course, as they stay here, they're fully reliant on volunteers. We're told by the coordinators here, it's volunteers that are bringing this basic bedding that you see. It's volunteers that are bringing food, water and basic supplies.
The Lviv city council has visited recently, we're told, and they're working to bring more aid, more assistance. But you have to wonder how much longer can people live under these conditions in a place like this.
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GORANI: That was Salma Abdelaziz in Lviv.
One of the most heartbreaking aspects of all of this brutality is the effect on the most innocent and the youngest. The U.N. says more than 1.5 million children have fled Ukraine since the fighting began or been displaced. Earlier this week, U.N. spokesperson James Elder explained just how quickly that refugee math adds up.
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JAMES ELDER, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: Fifty-five children per minute, so almost one per second, that is the fastest in terms of swiftness and scale, in terms of swiftness and scale, the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
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GORANI: Well, Joe English is a spokesperson for UNICEF. He's been working in the country and joining me now live in Lviv. We just heard an air raid siren and you went into the shelter. We're
adults; we can kind of sort of mentally, psychologically handle it. But kids here have to do the same thing every day, almost.
JOE ENGLISH, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: They do. Thank you so much for having me, Hala.
Just behind us, we have a park. Every day, there are kids out there, playing on the swings, walking their dogs, doing all the things you would expect kids to do anywhere in the world.
And then that siren goes off and they know just what to do. They stop, find their parents and they go into the bunker, which is just 100 yards from the park. And these are things that kids shouldn't have to know what to do.
And as you say, the numbers are just staggering. More than 1.5 million children who fled the country, more than 3.3 million who are displaced in the country, more than 50 killed, more than 60 injured. And each is an individual child, whose life has been torn apart, whose world has been turned upside down.
GORANI: Talk to us for what this means for a child that was just in school three, four weeks ago and now on the run, in a foreign country, they don't know the language; probably separated from their brothers and fathers.
What's that like for these --
(CROSSTALK)
ENGLISH: Yes, there's two impacts. There's the psychological impact, as you say.
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ENGLISH: Just having everything you've ever known taken away from you.
There's also the risk that children may become separated from their parents or caregivers and that raises the risk of child trafficking, exploitation and abuse. So it's critical that organizations like UNICEF, in the refugee facing countries, we're working with UNHCR and local authorities to set up blue dot centers, which are effectively one-stop shops, where it's a safe space for children and for parents to play, to color in.
But they're also where we can have psychologists, counselors, legal experts, to provide all those services they're going to need, not just now but also into the future.
GORANI: Tell us about those kids, who are -- that UNICEF is assisting.
What are some of the things, what are some of their basic initial needs, once they're able to flee the fighting? What do you find?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly. I've been at the children's hospital here in Lviv for the past couple of days. And the stories -- I mean, it's hard to see. You know, there was a young boy, who is 9 years old, who has T-cell leukemia. He needs dedicated treatment that he can't receive here in the middle of the war.
So thankfully he was evacuated yesterday to Poland. So there's very special needs. But then also we've been delivering toys into Kharkiv for kids who have been inside shelters in the metro system for weeks.
GORANI: Yes.
ENGLISH: And providing not only the basics of life -- water, food, shelter -- but also that opportunity to just experience a semblance of a normal childhood is absolutely critical.
GORANI: Yes. My question is always about the longer term, because we've all covered the Syrian war, the refugee crisis, whether it's Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq. And for a few months, you always find that people can kind of manage, psychologically. They think, well, for a few months, we'll be away and then we'll go back.
But then sometimes the conflict drags on; in the case of Syria, for more than 10 years.
How do you deal -- how do kids deal with this?
Because in some cases, they -- they're out of school for a very long time.
ENGLISH: Yes. I mean, all around the world, children have dealt with more than two years of disruption to their education because of COVID. And in Ukraine, you know, we talk about three weeks of war.
For children in the east, it's been more than eight years. So what's critical is making sure that, as soon as it is safe, children are able to get back into the classroom, back to learning.
But no parent is going to send their kid to school when there's a risk of them not coming home at the end of the day. And we continue to see schools, hospitals, homes, the places where children are meant to be kept safe, coming under attack.
And so, the long-term challenges are going to be -- I mean, they're going to be momentous. We need international cooperation, solidarity.
GORANI: I was going to ask you, what needs to be done?
And people feel helpless watching this, thinking, I'm sitting here at home, I'm safe, my kids are safe.
What can I do?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly. Organizations like UNICEF, our humanitarian funding from governments and individuals is critical. It allows us not only to be here as soon as a crisis may start but also to prepare to be here in advance.
We've been in Ukraine for 25 years. We'll be here throughout this crisis. And we'll be here long after, you know, the guns have fallen silent so we can help children and families rebuild their lives.
But also refugee resettlement, each and every country needs to step up and do their fair share and provide safe and legal routes for families, who are fleeing these horrors.
GORANI: What about your staff in parts of the country, where the conflict is raging?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly, I mean, the stories that we're hearing, we've all seen the images, as well, out of Mariupol, out of Kharkiv. And I mean, I've heard it described as apocalyptic. I've heard it described as hell on Earth.
And there's almost not words strong enough, really, to describe what people are going through. We heard reports, anecdotal; we haven't been able to verify them, but of a little girl dying of dehydration in Mariupol. And this is the 21st century.
These are not --
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GORANI: And we're -- I've also heard reports of people having to melt snow for drinking water because the city is besieged.
ENGLISH: Yes. Completely. And we are ready to go. We've delivered or we have in transit, I think, 85 trucks, 850 tons of materials going out all across the country. Kharkiv, the first U.N. humanitarian convoy went to Sumy on Friday morning.
GORANI: What about access, though?
ENGLISH: That's it. We can't get into Mariupol at the moment. And the situation there is absolutely devastating. We need humanitarian corridors, not just so people can get out but also we can get in to reach the most vulnerable, who may not be able to leave.
GORANI: Absolutely. Joe English, thank you so much for joining us.
ENGLISH: Thank you.
GORANI: And good luck to your teams on the ground.
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GORANI: Joe English there of UNICEF, bringing up an important point about the risk of child trafficking. That's very important.
If you would like to help people in Ukraine who may be in need of shelter, food or water, go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find several ways you can help.
President Zelenskyy has warned his people about possible Russian saboteurs. But in a country filled with so many Russian speakers, it's not always obvious who is potentially dangerous and who is not. That story is just ahead.
And also, thousands of Ukrainians have entered Romania to flee the war. But we caught up with two Russians, who are there to make their voices heard. Their story is coming up.
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GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live in Lviv.
Ukraine's president now says Ukrainian resistance has been so fierce that some invading Russian units have been wiped out by 80 percent to 90 percent. To date, Ukraine claims more than 14,000 Russian forces have died in the fighting since late February.
Now these are Ukrainian numbers, obviously, and it is not possible to verify the accuracy of them. But independent sources have said that certainly the Russian losses are and number in the thousands. And that apparently includes a fifth Russian general in less than four weeks of war. That is a very significant loss.
According to the Ukrainian military the general died last week in fierce fighting near the city of Kherson. Again, we cannot independently verify that claim.
The U.S. now confirms that Russia has struck Western Ukraine with hypersonic missiles, similar to what you see here. Russia says last week's attack targeted an ammunitions warehouse.
Now why is this significant?
Because these missiles can fly very low and, crucially, very, very fast, which makes them almost impossible to defend against.
There is a glimmer of hopeful news from Eastern Ukraine that I can tell you about. A local official says 71 orphans, all under the age of 4 and many with special needs, were safely evacuated from a care home in the town of Sumy. They were brought out of a humanitarian corridor after spending some two weeks in bomb shelters.
These people taking care of them are just angels. Some will stay in Kyiv for now. Others will go on to Lviv.
Well, with the war now in its fourth week, Ukrainians are fearful of potential Russian saboteurs on their soil and even asking people to show their papers on the street to make sure that it's not a Russian person, trying to create havoc in any way.
But in a country where many people actually speak Russian, it's not always obvious to tell if they are friend or if they are foe. Scott McLean has that story.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Days after the invasion began, this Lviv office was set up to help Ukrainians fleeing war. But not everyone who comes here is welcome.
Shortly after we arrived, the man we're filming draws suspicion from staff. They tell us he has links to Russia. Police are called, documents are checked, questions are asked, more than an hour passes and then tells us his only link to Russia was a five-year-old passport stamp. They let him go.
MCLEAN: Even here in Lviv, a city that is far remote from the front lines we've had the police called on us twice, we've been asked to show our documents more times than I can count.
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MCLEAN: And some people even say that random ordinary citizens are asking total strangers to produce identification. But if somebody asked you for your identification or your passport, you wouldn't think it was weird.
ANATOLII HRYHORIV, LVIV RESIDENT: I wouldn't think -- for now I wouldn't think.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Anatolii Hryhoriv says two weeks ago he was walking home after sheltering in this bunker during an air raid alert.
MCLEAN: And you saw two guys that look suspicious.
HRYHORIV: Yes. And they were going to the bushes.
MCLEAN: And they're walking through the bushes.
HRYHORIV: We physically grabbed them here and didn't let them cold. We would probably let them go but if they could show us some documents or something like that but they didn't.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Ever since the president's warning, CNN found that, in Mykolaiv, any men out after curfew get special attention from police. And in Kyiv, even those fleeing through humanitarian corridors don't escape scrutiny.
OLEKSANDR KAMYSHIN, CEO, UKRAINIAN RAILWAYS: Because we are afraid that Russians may have sent some of their own. MCLEAN (voice-over): Ukraine's rail chief says security has been beefed up to guard against saboteurs planting special targets to guide Russian missiles. Staff detained this man near Kharkiv.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Constantly gauge them and send them to police.
MCLEAN: How do you know for sure?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian documents (INAUDIBLE) --
MCLEAN (voice-over): A few days into the war, Volodymyr Lytvyn's wife says she spotted suspicious vehicles without headlights outside their home near the airport. By the time he went to investigate, police were already there pointing guns in his direction.
VOLODYMYR LYTVYN, LVIV RESIDENT (through translator): And it was an unpleasant experience for me. But I'm happy that there are such security measures. If you're an honest person and have no bad intentions, there's nothing to worry about.
MCLEAN: Was the word "saboteur" in your vocabulary before the war started?
LYTVYN: (Speaking foreign language).
MCLEAN (voice-over): But finding links to Russia is complicated in a country filled with Russian speakers.
ROKSOLANA YAVORSKA, UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE SPOKESPERSON (through translator): It is simply impossible to consider every Russian- speaking person is saboteur. A saboteur may have a characteristic Russian accent, not just be a Russian speaker.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The Ukrainian security service in Lviv says only soldiers and law enforcement can demand a person's documents. But in wartime --
YAVORSKA (through translator): To detain or not to detain a suspect with your own hands is the decision of each person.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Despite all the hype, she says not a single person in Lviv has been charged yet with sabotage -- Scott McLean, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
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GORANI: One of the nagging questions about this senseless war has been, why did President Putin invade?
Among his explanations was that Ukraine would join NATO, which he framed as some sort of existential threat to his country. Now the British prime minister Boris Johnson now says there's much more to this story. He says Putin's real concern was that Russians could take a cue from Ukrainians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: He has been terrified of the effect of that Ukrainian model on him and on Russia. And he's been in a total panic about a so-called color revolution in Moscow itself.
And that's why he is trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine. And that's why it is so vital that he fails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That is the view of Boris Johnson, who made those comments at a Conservative Party conference in the U.K.
Some Russians want the world to know they do not support Putin's war on Ukraine. Our Miguel Marquez met two of them during a protest march in Bucharest, Romania.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So some half- million Ukrainian refugees now in Romania. Most of them have moved on to other countries. But Romania is really preparing for a tidal wave of refugees, as Russians continue to march west and as they continue to use just that immense force in significant areas.
This as protests here in Bucharest and across cities around the world continue. We ran into a couple of Russian women, who were protesting the war in front of the Russian embassy here in Bucharest.
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NATALIE FALKOVSKAYA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: I know many people who are against the war, and it is really complicated. It is really dangerous to be against the war in Russia, because you know, because they will -- the police will catch you and they can arrest you.
EUGENIA RUMENKO, PRO-UKRAINE RUSSIAN: There are literally a fight in every home, you could say. Younger generation and older generation are struggling to find understanding right now. I'm sure that every Russian right now understands that something is going terribly wrong.
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MARQUEZ: So that first young woman that you heard from says she was arrested in Moscow on February 24th. That's the day that the war started.
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MARQUEZ: She said she was looking at a tree that had anti-war posters on it and that's when police picked her up, held her for five hours. And that's when she decided it was time to get out, a student not entirely sure what she's going to do with the rest of her life at this point.
But the Russians that we met at this protest want the world to know that the country is deeply divided over this war, as places like Romania, from individuals to cities to the entire country, is now preparing for a much bigger tidal wave of refugees that are internally displaced in Ukraine, if and when the Russians continue that force toward the West. Back to you.
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GORANI: Well, coming up, one of the world's biggest movie stars has recorded a message directly to the people of Russia.
But will he be able to get through state propaganda and cyber barriers?
That story is ahead.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Russian president Vladimir Putin trying to rally Russians Friday, as his country faces international condemnation for its war in Ukraine. He spoke at a Moscow event celebrating eight years since Russian troops seized Crimea.
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BRUNHUBER: Some attendees say they were pressured to come to the gathering. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is slamming Russian propaganda.
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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Russia is once again attempting to use this council to launder its disinformation, spread its propaganda and justify its unprovoked and brutal attack on Ukraine.
Russia is abusing its responsibilities and privileges as a permanent member of the Security Council. Our mandate is to serve as a venue for achieving peace through diplomacy. Russia's subversion of our mission and its horrific campaign of violence against the Ukrainian people are deeply shameful.
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BRUNHUBER: Russian authorities are restricting public access to some websites and social media services. In doing so, Putin has created a digital Iron Curtain of sorts, separating Russia from the rest of the world. Now foreign governments organizations and a Hollywood star are trying to break through. Brian Todd explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as entities like the State Department, attempting to tear down Vladimir Putin's propaganda wall.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: I ask you to help me spread the truth.
TODD: The Kremlin's strongman's digital Iron Curtain blocking his people from the bleak realities of the war in Ukraine by moving to shut off Facebook, Twitter and Instagram inside Russia.
Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, movie star, action hero and former California governor, this week posted a video over nine minutes long with Russian subtitles, telling the Russian people what's really happening on the ground.
SCHWARZENEGGER: See, the world has turned against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine. Whole city blocks have been flattened by Russian artillery and bombs including a children's hospital and a maternity hospital.
TODD: Schwarzenegger posted it to his five million Twitter followers but also tens of thousands of his subscribers on Telegram, a messaging app that can also transmit messages and videos to a wider audience just like Twitter.
Telegram has not yet been shut down inside Russia. Schwarzenegger tailored his message not just to Russian civilians.
SCHWARZENEGGER: To the soldiers who are listening to this, remember, that 11 million Russians have family connections to Ukraine. So every bullet you shoot, you shoot a brother or a sister. Every bomb or every shell that falls is falling not on an enemy but on a school or a hospital.
TODD: And if only virtually, he looked the former KGB colonel right in the eye.
SCHWARZENEGGER: To President Putin, I say you started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war.
NATALIA KRAPIVA, ATTORNEY: The Russian public, especially my generation, has grown up watching Schwarzenegger. He's a beloved figure in Russia. And Russians have told me that his video literally brought them to tears because they haven't heard any Russian official speaking to them with such respect and compassion.
TODD: Still, Putin's propaganda and disinformation are unrelenting. This week a Russian website claimed three American so-called mercenaries were killed in Ukraine.
But the U.S. National Guard says that they're still alive and not even in Ukraine. They were Guardsmen sent to train the Ukrainian military a few years ago. Some tech-savvy Russians have used virtual private networks or VPNs plus encrypted apps and other tools to get around Putin's information curtain and access the internet directly. But analysts say there are challenges with those methods.
KRAPIVA: A lot of Russian people still haven't heard of VPNs or they cannot afford to use them.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: What we've learned over in the Chinese model is that over time the state gets better and better about how to choke those off.
TODD: Still, it's possible that the Terminator's message to Russians was seen by a very important audience deep inside the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin only follows 22 people on Twitter. But Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of them -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine is mourning one of its top dancers. We'll look at how the ballet star reportedly lost his life and what his friends and colleagues are saying after the break.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. We want to show you a picture that tells the story of how far Ukrainians have to go to protect their loved ones during this war. Have a look here.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): It shows a woman named Olga, nursing her 1- month old while she recovers in hospital. The hospital says Olga shielded the child with her body after their home in Kyiv came under fire.
The mother sustained multiple injuries and underwent surgery. Thankfully, her baby is OK. Olga's husband is also in the picture and the attack wounded his leg.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's national opera house is mourning one of their top ballet dancers. Artyom Datsishin's friends posted on social media, saying he died after being injured by shelling. Now CNN hasn't confirmed this.
Several international dancers, including one of Datsishin's old dance partners, are raising money to help Ukraine. ITN's Rishi Davda has that story.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) RISHI DAVDA, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Effortless elegance and palpable passion, Ivan Putrov is one of Ukraine's finest ballet dancers, born in Kyiv and a member of the national ballet before spending many years with the U.K.'s renowned royal ballet company.
IVAN PUTROV, UKRAINIAN BALLET DANCER: All of my family saying the same thing, that it's surreal, trying to escape, driving, Russian bombs falling on Kyiv. It's impossible to understand.
My father chose to stay back in Kyiv. My mother, I'm so happy that my mom has made it to London after more than a week and several attempts to escape Kyiv. So she will be here for the show.
DAVDA (voice-over): Ivan teamed up with Alina Cojocaru. Born in neighboring Romania, Alina trained in Ukraine and knows all too well the devastation of war. Her former dance partner, Artyom Datsishin, killed after shelling by Russian forces.
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ALINA COJOCARU, ROMANIAN BALLET DANCER: Artyom was one of the first partners I danced with when I was 15 in Kyiv. We both had the same teacher when I joined the theater. My memory goes to how I knew him, how we met and how we danced together. I could not comprehend that that's a reality right now happening.
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DAVDA (voice-over): Ballet's best from around the world have donated their time to be a part of the Dance for Ukraine, a gala to raise money.
PUTROV: The show that we're putting together, Alina, has given a platform, a voice for others to join in. Everyone is desperate to do something.
Something that usually takes six months took two weeks. So it's a 20- hour day, trying to put this together. And yet it's really worth it, because it will save lives.
DAVDA: If you had a message to the people of Ukraine, what would it be?
COJOCARU: We just have to get through these hard times because there is light on the other side. There are people willing to help and open their doors and their hearts and support in any ways they can.
DAVDA (voice-over): Show proceeds will go to the disaster's emergency committee. Ivan and Alina hope to help those suffering through the brutality of war with the beauty of ballet -- Rishi Davda, News at 10.
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BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much for watching. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Hala Gorani is back with more of our breaking coverage after a short break. Stay with us.
