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New Explosions Rocked Kyiv; Mariupol Rejects Demand to Surrender; NATO Leaders Meet in Brussels; Ukraine Repair and Reuse Russia's Own Military Hardware Against Them; Ukraine: More Than 7,000 Evacuated From Mariupol Sunday; Senior Russian Naval Officer Killed Near Mariupol; Ukrainian Forces Battle Russians Near Kherson. Aired 2- 3a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers all around the world and also in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine. We are tracking breaking developments here in Ukraine where the mayor of Kyiv says new explosions have rocked the capital. One of those blast was captured on CCTV video. The mayor says at least one person was killed, some homes were hit, and a shopping center and cars caught fire following Russian shelling.

To the south in Mariupol, such a dire situation. Officials are rejecting Russia's demands to surrender the besieged city. Mariupol has been the scene of some of the worst attacks by Russian forces leaving behind widespread devastation and countless casualties. The city council says an art school used as a shelter was bombed Sunday. And advisers to the mayor says officials are still trying to find out exactly how many people survived that attack.

Earlier, we learned the building was acting as a shelter for about 400 people. The school is not far from that theater that was bombed just a few days ago. It, too, was being used as a shelter for hundreds of people.

Despite the heavy losses for Ukraine, Russia is seeing losses as well, and they are significant. Two Russian officials say a senior Russian naval officer is now among those killed during the fight around Mariupol. Ukraine's president spoke with CNN earlier and said he is ready to negotiate with Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODOMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): I am ready for negotiations with him. If these attempts fail that would mean that this is a third world war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, the Mariupol city council now says some residents have been forcibly deported to Russian territories. And as Phil Black reports, there is no safety for those who remain in the city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the buildings being destroyed in Mariupol have 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 civil collapse is total. It's been days since we heard anything about efforts to rescue people from this side. The last report said 130 people were pulled from the debris of the theater where around a thousand or more was 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.

Katarina Iskaya (ph) 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 over ahead, always afraid of a bomb dropping.

Alventina Svetsova (ph) 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.

Alventina (ph) 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)

GORANI: Well, NATO allies are meeting in Brussels this week in what's being called an extraordinary summit to address this Russian invasion.

[02:05:03]

The leaders will discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia's unprovoked attack on the country. Estonia's prime minister spoke to Jake Tapper about NATO's current priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are trying to do everything we can to support and help Ukraine to fight this war. Putin must not win this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand. She is in Brussels. What more are NATO allies likely to decide upon because it's quite clear what Ukraine wants, it wants more air defense systems. Is that on the table for them at this stage?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, what we keep hearing from NATO itself is that it's up to the individual NATO members to make their own decisions about what kind of weaponry they want to send to Ukraine bilaterally, right? So, at this extraordinary meeting on Thursday of NATO leaders, it's unlikely that they are going to make any collective decisions about the kind of weaponry that they each want to send into Ukraine.

Of course, it will be discussed and this is a top priority for the nation, is determining the state of the conflict as it stands now. And, importantly, the threat that it poses to NATO, right. That is primarily the gist of the meeting this week, is going to be about how can we deter Russia from moving further west and threatening Poland, threatening those eastern flank NATO countries that are obviously feeling very threatened right now.

And Of course, how can we shore up those eastern flank NATO countries, and give them more weaponry and give them more troops and air defense systems so that if something were to happen, whether on purpose or inadvertently, they could properly defend themselves.

Now, President Biden, of course, he prefers face to face diplomacy. That is why the White House says he is coming to Brussels this week. And the discussions, again, will center primarily around NATO's future operating in this kind of new security environment where Russia clearly poses a potential threat to the NATO alliance.

We saw just last week that Russian missiles were striking about 10 miles from the Polish border. Obviously, that is a great concern to those eastern flank countries and drones, of course, drones are another big issue. About three different drone incidents entering NATO territory last week sparking a lot of concern here.

But when he meets with, when the president meets with the European Union leaders, also on Thursday scheduled for later in the day, he will be discussing, of course, those weapon shipments, those attempts to create -- to send humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, how to help Ukraine any way possible. That is kind if the E.U. mandate here and that is going to be top of mind for those leaders when they meet later this week, Hala?

GORANI: And I wonder, I mean, President Zelenskyy says, look, if you don't help us more now, you are looking at World War III. How much of a concern is that among NATO allies? And is there some dissent within the ranks that perhaps a no-fly zone is actually a good idea despite the fact that it could lead to some sort of direct confrontation with Russia?

BERTRAND: Well, it's a major concern and we saw the secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg of NATO say last week that this is a brand- new security environment that NATO is operating in and arguably the most threatened that they have been in many, many years because again, of these incidents that have been occurring closer and closer to NATO territory.

But when it comes to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his calls for a no-fly zone, that, I can tell you just based on our conversations here over the last several weeks with NATO officials, it is just not going to happen. And there is no dissent as far as we can tell, among NATO members about imposing that no-fly zone.

When it comes to actually sending peacekeeping forces into Ukraine from NATO, that is actually something that Poland has indicated that it would want to s, but again, the United States is saying that they do not have any sense that that is feasible right now because according to the officials that we have spoken to, they believe that if you send peacekeeping forces into Ukraine and there is no peace there to actually enforce, then you would essentially be enforcing peace among warring parties and that would involve NATO forces coming in to direct confrontation with the Russians.

So, it does not seem like that is something that is palatable to other NATO, members aside from Poland at this point, but that, of course, is going to be discussed this week, Hala.

GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Natasha Bertrand in Brussels. Joining me now is Volodymyr Dubovyk, associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Mechnikov National University in Odessa. Thanks for joining us. So, you heard me there discuss with Natasha that really a no-fly zone is not on the table. But Poland could be interested perhaps in the idea of a peacekeeping force.

[02:09:57]

Do you think, for instance, that some sort of peacekeeping, humanitarian corridor in the western part of the country is something that could work that would be a good idea and that would avoid direct confrontation with Russia's military forces?

VOLODOMYR DUBOVYK, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, MECHNIKOV NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: I actually think that's a good idea, the humanitarian zone in Western Ukraine at least to protect some civilians who fled here (inaudible) in Ukraine and were hurt over the weekend that is all about something like over 7 million or about 7 million already and there'll be more of them. Those who are not refugees, but who are internally displaced persons here in Ukraine, at least protect them. At least cover -- provide cover over several regions here on the Western Ukraine. So, we will see if this idea flies. So far, I don't think NATO will be

standing. Only particular NATO member countries will be actually doing that. I was thinking about U.N. maybe. (Inaudible) sending peacekeeping force, by U.N. is also known for being a slow moving organization so, we don't know.

For now, I don't see any (inaudible) or any (inaudible) country, third (ph) country to actually get closer to the Russia-Ukraine conflict here. And that's problematic for us here in Ukraine. So far we need to focus then on the weapons supply then.

GORANI: Yes. Sure. And also the western part of the country could be used to re-supply troops fighting on the front lines and other parts of Ukraine. What about what President Zelenskyy said? Obviously, this is not something he'd be happy to be doing. But he said to CNN's Fareed Zakaria, "Look, I am open to a discussion now with Putin. We need to find some sort of diplomatic solution." Do you have any faith in that track at this stage? Why or why not?

DUBOVYK: Not necessarily right now. I think it might lead to something, but not now, but maybe after some weeks of additional fighting I'm afraid. And the positions of the sides of the parties are still too far opposite.

The Russian demands are still non-starters, they're not acceptable to us and we don't like them at all. I mean. Russia still dictates those concessions and list of items that they want for Ukraine to deliver, as they see Ukraine is losing this war.

And in Ukraine, there is the opposite mood right now, actually. No one is ready for capitulation or giving up. The other weekend, there was a sociological (inaudible) here, which show that Ukrainians believe in our potential, possible victory. And there is no appetite for major concessions undermining our sovereignty or to destroy our integrity.

GORANI: And what's interesting about the case of Mariupol, for instance, where it is absolute carnage there and it appears as the civilian targets are deliberately being hit. It's that Mariupol is a majority, correct me if I'm wrong, Russian-speaking city or perhaps there might have been even some sympathy for Russia before.

DUBOVYK: Right.

GORANI: What Vladimir Putin is doing is flattening this city that he is claiming to liberate. And we understand according to some reports, forcibly moving people from Mariupol into Russian-controlled territories. This is completely counter-productive. How do you even begin analyzing these types of actions?

DUBOVYK: Absolutely, you are right. And Mariupol is forced to hell on earth. I just was happy to find out the two very close -- good friends and colleagues made it out in recent humanitarian corridor.

But in terms of Putin hammering east and south of Ukraine, that's unbelievable because, indeed, he's not liberating. He's actually bombing people many of whom has sympathies for Russia but not anymore, of course. Basically, he is putting the last nail in the coffin on the Russian morale (ph).

Anyone who had any sort of sympathy for Russia before, they're now sitting on the bombs in the eastern parts of Ukraine. So, that's a definite departure from using any soft powers that Russia ever had is to be Ukraine. It's now only heart power (inaudible) power that they can use to keep Ukraine, certain nations out of their control. That's all.

GORANI: How united are Ukrainians still? I'm in western Ukraine so I'm not able to assess really whether or not morale is staying very, very high and parts of the country where the destruction is daily and atrocious and terrible. But overall, do you think that the morale of Ukrainians, one month in, is still where it was at the beginning?

DUBOVYK: No, morale is high, but it's wearing off. I mean, the people are tired. I am not myself, but luckily so far haven't been on a bombing or shelling, but I imagine people who are sitting in Mariupol or Kharkiv or elsewhere. Other than bombs they would be ready to accept any negotiation, condition, so just to get out of the hell.

But overall, the country, still the most of the country is not under bombing or shelling and therefore very smooth to continue to fight. And there is understanding that more days, more weeks we hang in there, there is a better chance for us to have better conditions, so a cease-fire or peace deal.

GORANI: All right, Volodymyr Dubovyk, thank you so much for joining us on CNN.

DUBOVYK: Thank you very much.

GORANI: Now, we were telling you about the Chernobyl nuclear plant a few weeks ago. There is one small positive development I can report to you.

[02:14:57]

About half of the staff that's been working at Chernobyl, basically, since the war began, has been able to rotate out and return home. The International Atomic Energy Agency says those employees have been working nonstop at the radioactive waste facilities for more than three weeks when Russian forces seize the site. Those workers have now been released by Ukrainian staffers. The IAEA is hopeful that the rest of the staff can rotate out soon.

The tide of refugees, fleeing Ukraine, is worrying central European countries. Officials are becoming concerned as more than 3.3 million displaced Ukrainians flee the violence in their country. And those who have left are scarred by the things they've witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: When I go to sleep, I don't know if I wake up or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: And most Ukrainians are fleeing to Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia.

Coming up, the war has not gone as planned for Russia that much is clear. They've even abandoned some of their own equipment. We'll see how Ukrainians are seizing it and using it against the invaders.

Plus, when Ukrainian mother describes her terrifying ordeal as she tried to shield her own baby with her own body as the shells rained down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: You are looking at video of hundreds of people in the Ukrainian town of Enerhodar. They are protesting the detention of the town's deputy mayor at the hands of the Russian military. The deputy mayor's son tells CNN Russian soldiers arrived about 30 minutes later to shut down the rally.

And in southeastern Ukraine, disturbing video has emerged of Russian forces brutally suppressing a protest. And you can see troops detaining a man, face down on the pavement and repeatedly kicking him. This as Russia announced that a deputy commander of its Black Sea fleet had been killed. It is the latest in a series of losses and setbacks even as Ukrainian forces turn Russia's own weapons against them. Frederik Pleitgen shows us how they are doing it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Another setback for Vladimir Putin's army. Ukrainian forces say they destroyed this column of Russian vehicles, but believe it or, not some might be used by the Ukrainian army soon.

This unit of Ukraine's territorial defense fixes up captured Russian military hardware. Mechanics working day in and day out often using scrap parts to get armored vehicles back on the battlefield.

(On camera): Look at all the stuff that they have here. They have old metal, cables. The guys here tell us that they use everything that they can to make these vehicles fit again and beat Vladimir Putin with his own weapons.

(Voice-over): When we visited, the group was fixing up several armored personnel carriers and a fuel truck. They also showed us this video of rockets they claimed they captured and which they also say had already been fired back at the Russians.

While some of the vehicles are captured during battle and the Russian crews killed or captured, often Russian soldiers simply abandon their gear and run away, Yuri Golodof (ph), the deputy commander of this unit tells me.

The Russian soldiers are frightened and demoralized he says. They are afraid to be separated from each other because they are being shot at from every bush. We call it safari, civilian hunters are now hunting for those Russians who fled through the forests.

The Territorial Defense Unit also trains new fighters to help defend Ukraine's capital.

And they show us some of the arms they have received from the U.S. and allied nations like this German-made Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapon.

Is it effective, I ask the deputy commander? Very effective to shoot tanks, he says.

Ukraine's forces continue to hold off Russian advances in Kyiv and elsewhere, but their own losses are significant as well. Both military personnel and civilians getting killed by Russian fire. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALENSKYY (through translation): We are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground. Russian forces have come to exterminate us, kill us, and we have demonstrated the dignity of our people and our army that we are able to deal a powerful blow. We are able to strike back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): They strike back with any weapons they can get their hands on, whether those come from allies abroad or from their enemy. These fighters say anything that drives and shoots will be put to use against Vladimir Putin's invading force. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A Ukrainian woman who was injured while protecting her one- month old baby during a Russian attack, is speaking out about the horrifying experience. Olga (ph) used her body as a shield to protect her daughter from flying debris as their home came under fire in Kyiv. Thankfully, her child was unharmed. Her husband who is seen in this photo was also injured during the attack. Listen as Olga describes those terrifying moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLGA, WOUNDED WHILE SAVING HER BABY (through translation): I was wounded in the head and blood started flowing. And it off-load on the baby. And I couldn't understand. I thought it was her blood. Dimitro (ph) was taking the baby away. I'm screaming that she was covered all in glass, all in blood. He tells me, Olga, (ph), it's your blood. It's not hers.

[02:25:00]

And in the morning I woke up to feed the baby again. I give her a bath. And I just sat down to feed her. And I like to sit down with knees up like this. And I cover her with a blanket so she is warm, too. And that's what kept the baby alive. I just got her covered in time, and then Dimitro (ph) jumped up and covered us too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Terrifying moments there. And Olga and her husband are now recovering from their injuries.

In the push toward Mykolaiv, the Russians are not gaining ground, but the distraction their leaving behind as vast. A report from the front lines just ahead.

Plus, its business is usual between Beijing and Moscow but China denies it's helping Russia with military assistance. We are live in Beijing, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine. Our breaking news this hour, at least one person was killed following multiple explosions in Ukraine's capital on Sunday. Take a look at this surveillance footage. It shows the moment one of the blasts hit. Officials in Kyiv say a shopping center also caught fire and that flames reached as high as the third and fourth floors.

These are live images coming to us from Kyiv right now. I'm actually seeing them for the first time myself as well. And let's take a look at what this might show. This is what looks like on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is currently almost 8:30 in the morning local time right now, but it shows the aftermath of what I understand to be the same attack on that shopping mall. Correct me if I'm wrong, Wayne? Is that correct?

[02:30:00]

All right, we're just not exactly sure that it's the shopping mall attack. We assume that it is based on the structure of the building behind these rescue workers. But you can see here that firefighters are trying to put out some of the flames on the ground but absolutely horrendous destruction on that particular site in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

Live pictures coming to us there from the ground. So far, the Russian forces have been unable to take the capital city itself. To the south, leaders have refused Russia's demands to surrender. The besieged city of Mariupol. Bombardments on this city have made it hard to get civilians out or get any kind of aid in. Ukraine says more than 7000 people were able to escape on Sunday, but that's really a drop in the ocean because so many more remain trapped. And civilian shelters are coming under attack as well, including an art school and a theater.

We've also learned that a senior Russian naval officer was killed in fighting near Mariupol. That's according to social media posts by two senior Russian officials. So, they are taking some heavy losses at the top of their military ranks. Some of the heaviest recent fighting has been around Kherson. A southern city occupied by the Russians. Now they are attacking surrounding villages in the drive to seize the port city of Mykolaiv. Ukrainian forces have held the Russians back. But as Nick Paton Walsh reports, they have not been able to limit the destruction of Russia's relentless missile strikes and shelling. And no warning as always, some of the images you're about to see are very graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is what the slow route of Russia in southern Ukraine looks like. Kiev's forces are pushing close to Kherson, the first city the Kremlin took.

(on camera): Here, so many people being evacuated day by day, and the area quiet in contrast to these impacts we see all around in the fields, just constant barrage over the past days.

(voice over): The bus is the last way out of here, going from door to what is left of every door. The village of Posad-Pokrovske has been Ukraine's last position for days. And so, this is what Russia left of it.

The noise is the village gas main leaking furiously. Putin's war of annihilation was sure not to overlook this school. Its front torn off by a missile. It is hard to imagine life returning here even when the shelling stops which just now, it does not. We run down for cover. The Marines here are mobile pushing forwards where they can. Kherson nearby airport their prize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we have a little machine.

WALSH: You're on your way to the airport?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To kill the (BLEEP)

WALSH: Daniel (PH) is a former Lebanese soldier working in T.V. Married to a Ukrainian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two weeks ago, this place had life, and now nothing.

WALSH: The bus has filled with anyone left who wants to leave. Anyone who can move themselves. We are asked to take those who cannot. And who remember the last time war came to Europe. As we leave, shelling hits the village. It had become a deathbed riddled with cluster munition mines this man said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Civilians, they killed all the civilians. These are bastards, reptiles, parasites. They don't fight troops, they fight people. Worse than fascists. Yes worse, worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember how the Germans attacked us. They didn't mess with us like this.

WALSH: Over days, the road out there has been fought over. Its pockmarked concrete lined with these tiny peaceful worlds ripped open. This woman was in Poland when Russians took her hometown Kherson where her children are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to go home.

WALSH: Nikolai (PH) can't really hear the blast at his age. But sent his wife to live with his daughter in the city.

[02:35:03]

WALSH: He staged to protect whatever they have left. Shelling hits the road out again. And we drive past the earth Putin shells have happily scorched as his army slowly loses. Whatever ground here it gained Ukraine's guns pushing them back. But Moscow imposes a cost, these barracks torn into reduced to rubble by missile strikes that killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers, some as they slept Friday morning in one of the worst known losses of the war.

This trauma unit struggles with some of the 40 injured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Girls, I need the anesthetist here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are my people? Yaroslav? Valka?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One soldier asking his friends by name. Not all injuries involve blood. The soldier was in bed on the third floor when the blast hit and he found himself on the second with both legs smashed losing consciousness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know the enemy. In the end, the world must see and hear this. I don't know how many deaths will it take for everyone to see?

WALSH: That night, the Kremlin's blunt force hits another target around Mykolaiv. Moscow may be losing ground here, but does all it can to crush and stifle what it cannot have. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Poroshkov, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: China's ambassador to the U.S. is rejecting rumors that Beijing may be providing military assistance to Russia but at the same time, it is conducting business as usual with Moscow. The Chinese ambassador told CBS' Face the Nation that the countries are still cooperating on multiple fronts despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine. CNN Steven Jiang joins me from Beijing with more.

What type of cooperation between the two countries that the ambassador say was still ongoing?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the ambassador is being relatively vague, but it is interesting in the past few days, we have started noticing some subtle changes in officials rhetoric here about this war, even though they still refuse to call it a Russian invasion, They have at least started mentioning Ukraine security concern as part of their consideration in China's position and policy.

And you have also started seeing state media here, which, of course has been largely providing one sided pro-Russia coverage started to cite information from the Ukrainian side. Even sensors here are now allowing some more neutral voices, if you will, to emerge on Chinese social media. Now, all of this, of course, probably because the Beijing leadership is being programmatic given how the war has been going.

But this is also as somebody pointed out a sign of them trying to maintain some sort of moral high ground with their foreign minister insisting just this past weekend, that history or time will eventually prove China's position to be on the right side of history. But, you know, at the same time, of course, you've also seen them continue to point to Russia -- to Russia's talking point about NATO's eastward expansion being the root cause of this conflict.

That, of course, is also a reflection of Beijing's increasing concern about U.S. building alliances to encircle China. And with a lot of officials increasingly pointing to this threat posed by the so-called Indo-Pacific version of NATO. I think that's why, you know, at this stage, you see -- you see the Chinese remarks and also a lot of people think the ultimate goal for China, of course, is to see a weakened U.S. and its alliances.

And also, a new international order more favorable to authoritarian governments. So, at this point, that's why Putin losing power will be their ultimate nightmare. And that's why a lot of people don't see China pull back from its alliances or close ties with Russia. At the stage. Hala?

GORANI: Yes. Steven, I just want our viewers to know what they're seeing there on the right-hand side of their screen, images of destruction following a Russian strike just unclear to me at this stage, whether or not that's the shopping center and residential building complex that we were reporting on earlier. But clearly, you can see just absolutely appalling images of destruction that appear to have hit at least in part civilian infrastructure once again.

[02:40:04]

GORANI: Just a little bit earlier, we were seeing firefighters try to put out a blaze there and one portion of that utter scene of massive destruction. It is apocalyptic as you can see there with a whole side of that building to the right of your screen just shorn off from whatever artillery or perhaps even missile strike hit that building. This we believe on the outskirts of Kiev, live images coming to us from the Ukrainian capital.

Steven. Thanks very much. We'll continue to report from Lviv here Ukraine at the top of the hour. First, let's bring in Rosemary Church in Atlanta. Rosemary?

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Thank you so much, Hala. We'll see you at the top of the hour as you say. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM. If Putin's war on Ukraine was meant to drive Europe apart, he is not succeeding. We will explain why just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: As we continue to bring you breaking developments from Ukraine and Russia's unprovoked war on that country, we are bringing you these pictures that have just come into us. They're on the outskirts of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. We're not sure of the details at this point. But we can tell you this, that they do indicate the utter devastation that this war that Putin has brought on this country.

What it has done in the cities across the country, particularly in the east. And they're in the north east, the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, we can see there on the outskirts, there's total devastation. Again, we don't know what caused this. Whether it was a missile strike or any other possibility here but this is extensive. And as we of course learn more about what caused this total devastation, we will bring you those details.

Well, Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine appears to have unified NATO, making its bond stronger than ever.

[02:45::07]

CHURCH: European countries imposed an international sanctions package targeting Russia's financial sector. We saw Germany halting its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, and Ukraine's neighbors are taking in refugees and offering Ukraine aid.

Joining me now from Paris is Nicolas Tenzer. He is a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Thank you, sir, for being with us.

NICOLAS TENZER, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS: My pleasure.

CHURCH: So, Russia's war on Ukraine has achieved the exact opposite of what President Putin had wanted. Not only an extraordinary level of resistance from the Ukrainian people, but also a new level of unity and assertiveness on the part of European nations, working together against Putin's war with some analysts suggesting their response has transformed the E.U. into a superpower renewing a push for democracy across the globe. Do you agree with that?

TENZER: Well, I basically agree, I think that's never -- Europe has been (INAUDIBLE) united in the face of the threats coming from Putin's regime. We remember still six months ago, there was a lot of disunity about Europe, the ones pushing for a kind of new reengagement, it was Putin's Russia, the others warning about the threat of this very reengagement. No heavy one is united. Everyone understand that the major threats for your security is basically Russian regime right now.

And that as long as Putin will remain in power, there will be absolutely no peace, no stability, and in a way, no dignity, in fact, in European world. So, there is this unity. But on the other hand, I have also to acknowledge that you have still European countries saying, well, OK, we have to finish this war in Ukraine, we have to jump to a kind of new reality as soon as this war will end then we can do a kind of business as usual with Mr. Putin. Some especially let's say, Germany, and Italy, even if the undecided threats coming for Putin still are pushing for a kind of, well, reengagement, new business. And the real question is, if some people in Europe or not, are trying to push Ukraine for concessions. So you have this united front, basically. But still you have --

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: So, how -- so, how has the unity of European nations along with the United States change the trajectory of this war do you think?

TENZER: Well, I think that's one of -- one of the questions. I think that first of all, basically, the United States and the E.U. are more united than ever. And I think that probably some of the European within that, well, we must have, basically, or own force, without the U.S. are reinforced in a way in this opinion. They consider that of course, all the European countries has really joined the two courts and GDP devoted to defense.

They know that they have to rearm themselves. They know that they cannot, of course, only rely on the U.S. deterrence. But also on the other hand, they still are trying to grasp how you can combine the European defense policy on the one hand and also the U.S. basically guarantees coming from to NATO and basically from the U.S. So, I think you don't have entered this debate. So, you have debate going on, basically.

CHURCH: So how likely is it do you think that Europe's new unity and assertiveness will last given the likely pressures ahead with the refugee crisis? And of course, rising prices caused by this war?

TENZER: Well, my hope that it will last, of course, but I am not sure of that because you still have basically -- do you have the same device? I mean, in the E.U. that you have basically at home in the U.S. in a way. You still have, you know, part of the Europeans capitals, saying well, we know that Mr. Putin as President Biden said and also, Prime Minister Johnson in the U.K. is a war criminal. But still, we have to deal with it.

I mean, with Putin's Russia, we have to deal with it. And well, we hope that the end the war of Korean will end and then we will try to find a new way to cooperate with Russia from both an economic and strategic point of view. On the other hand, you have some other saying well, basically after what we said, you know, in a -- for instance in Mariupol and in Kharkiv was just man city of war crimes.

[02:50:08]

TENZER: You know, the -- you had a civilians targeted, the hospital targeted, you had a lot of raps coming from Russian soldiers. Basically, usual crimes. We cannot sit at the same table with Mr. Putin. And we have to understand that we have to hold on. And especially when it comes to the very tough sanctions that we have decided, we may not renounce to sanction as long as Mr. Putin is in for.

CHURCH: All right. Yes.

TENZER: So, you have this debate in the U.S., you have this debate in the E.U. And then you have the serve debate which is basically about, well, should we impose a no-fly zone? Should we --

CHURCH: Nicolas Tenzer, I'm going to have to leave it there. I'm so sorry. But thank you so much for joining us. I do want to reference the -- these pictures we've been showing our viewers again. We were showing them earlier, this extensive destruction. We don't know the cause of it. This is just on the outskirts of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. We're showing them to you just to give you an idea of just how extensive this destruction is brought on by Putin's war on Ukraine. We'll take a short break. And we'll be back in just a moment.

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[02:55:13]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar's military committed genocide against the Rohingya. In 2017, the country's armed forces launched a military operation against the Muslim minority population. The violence led to mass killings and rape and forced nearly a million people to flee. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now from Seoul with more on this. Good to see you, Paula.

So, how significant is this recognition by the U.S. president of genocide against the Rohingya people and why did it take this long?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it was back in 2018 where the United Nations fact finding mission, find that these Myanmar generals had carried out genocidal act. It has taken up until today, though, for the United States to follow in using the word genocide. What activists are hoping though is the fact that the Biden administration is about to formally determine that the Myanmar military actions were genocide could help the chances of holding some of these generals responsible.

Now, this all refers back as you say to 2017. And when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced from Myanmar, there were mass killings, there was rape. And we know that just a year later, there was also an investigation and report done by the U.S. State Department at that point they found the serious of atrocities were "extreme large scale widespread," but they didn't go that extra step to say that they weren't genocidal act. That is changing today. Activists are extremely relieved. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks, Paula Hancocks joining us live from Seoul. And thank you for being with us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Our breaking news coverage continues after a short break.

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