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Ukrainian Forces Fight to Regain Ground Amid Stalemate; Ukraine: Bombs Falling Every 10 Minutes in Mariupol, Hundreds of Thousands in Mariupol Struggling to Survive; U.N.: 10 Million People Forced to Flee Their Homes; Invasion Forces Eurovision Winner Jamal to Flee Ukraine; EU Discussing More Sanctions on Russia. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 22, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church in Atlanta. We are following the breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine. Just ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never seen my father cry. We should have peace for Ukraine. Son, just leave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The situation in Mariupol is just terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening in Mariupol is a massive war crime. Destroying everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't be completely safe in Ukraine anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't need anything. I just want to be alive and safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHURCH: It is Tuesday, March 22nd, and 10 a.m. in Ukraine where the Russian military advance is stalling on the ground as Ukrainian troops fight to hang on to their territory and regain what they can. After days of fighting the Ukrainian armed forces say they have taken back Makariv. The town west of the capital had sustained major damage from Russian airstrikes. But we're told Makariv is once again flying the Ukrainian flag.

Farther south in Mariupol there's no end to the misery. The Russian rocket attacks are unrelenting. This drone footage from a unit of Ukraine's national guard captured explosions at an industrial compound. And these satellite images show smoke hanging over blocks of the city and rising from burning apartment buildings. Many residents are trapped as they suffer through severe shortages and struggle to stay alive.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the city is being reduced to ashes but will survive. Before the war Mariupol was home to nearly half a million people. The Pentagon said the evidence points to war crimes as the Russian military increases its missile strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: They've been frustrated. They have failed to achieve a lot of their objectives on the ground.

They're lobbing an awful lot of hardware into these cities to try to force their surrender and it's increased over the last few days. We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In Kyiv authorities say a recent missile strike on a shopping center has killed at least eight people and they warn that number could rise. Russia says it attacked the mall because Ukrainian troops were using it to hide rocket launchers. Russia's defense ministry released this drone video that appears to show those weapon systems and accuses Ukraine of using social facilities as human shields -- which Ukraine denies. This is the aftermath of the strike on the mall. The capital is under a curfew until Wednesday morning local time.

Well, meanwhile it's believed Russia opened fire on a daily protest in the southern city of Kherson. There was an explosion and then loud bursts of gunfire. At least one person was seen bleeding profusely. Kherson has been occupied by Russian forces for about two weeks now.

And Phil Black joins us now live from Lviv. Good to see you, Phil. There is a sense of desperation on the part of Russia's military right now bogged down in their faltering war on Ukraine. And that, of course, means more bombardments from afar targeting civilians. What is the latest on these attacks right across the country?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, that's certainly the analysis of Ukraine's Western allies. That wherever possible Russian forces are firing from a distance. Sometimes an attack in a way more often indiscriminately. Because they find whenever they get up close to Ukrainian forces, it's a very tough fight.

[04:05:00]

You mentioned Makariv, that is an example of that. A small-town west of the capital Kyiv, not far from there at all where there has been intense fighting really since the earliest days of this war. But especially so in the last 24 hours. By all accounts there is not much of that town left. But retaking it -- Ukrainian forces retaking it -- regaining control is significant in the context of slowing down Russia's plans to encircle, move close to and then eventually retake the capital, Kyiv. This is another example of Ukraine's spirited resistance. But perhaps the most powerful, symbolic example of that remains the

southern port city of Mariupol where this most bombarded of Ukrainians cities. Under siege for weeks where the civilian suffering is immense. It has still yet to fall to Russian forces. And that's why Ukraine's government believes that the defense that is taking place there is saving Ukrainian lives all over the country. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK (voice-over): Between the shelling and airstrikes at Mariupol, people emerged to do what they can for the living and the dead. This man says he hopes these graves are only temporary that the bodies will be reburied someday. They spend much of their time sheltering in what remains of the buildings and often beneath them. Basements offer some protection, but little comfort.

This woman says they have enough food and firewood to last a week.

Around 300,000 people in Mariupol are living like this. Those without homes are crowding together in large buildings. Over the weekend in art school with around 400 people inside was bombed and destroyed.

This video gives a sense of what these large shelters are like. It's from a theater where around a thousand or more people were staying, mostly women, children, the elderly. Days later, it was blown apart in a suspected airstrike.

The Russian word for children marked out in huge letters outside provided no safety. Katariina Sky (ph) lived across from that theater and delivered food and other aids to the people hiding out there.

She tells us it's difficult to describe the sympathy she felt further. 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 the 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 is supposed to be agreed core doors. A local official says, some people have been fired upon, others have had their vehicle 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK (on camera): So, for Russia Mariupol is an important because until it folds it remains a powerful symbol of their stalled offensive. They are desperate to take it as a sign of progress and momentum, so Russia can say that it is achieving military goals. And it is a key military goal. Taking Mariupol is important so that Russia can say it has achieved that land bridge connecting the Russian mainland and its border to the Crimea Peninsula which is annexed back in 2014. Until it takes Mariupol, it's unable to do that -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, Phil Black joining us from Lviv. Many thanks.

The United Nations says Russia's war on Ukraine has gotten nearly 3.5 million people out of the country. The vast majority are heading to neighboring countries. Poland has registered the highest number of Ukrainian refugees so far with more than 2 million people crossing into the country. The U.N. says more than 10 million people, nearly 1/4 of Ukraine's population have been forced from their homes as the war rages on. Many evacuees from the eastern part of the country have traveled to Lviv in western Ukraine hoping to find safety there. CNN's Don Lemon spoke with one family who him escaped assault.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Darina Rusanova was at her mother's house outside of Kharkiv when Russian bombardment grew closer.

[04:10:00]

DARINA RUSANOVA, UKRAINIAN EVACUEE: Everything was doing this --

LEMON: Shaking.

RUSANOVA: Yes, yes, it was shaking, we were laying on the ground. And like praying we would be safe and alive.

LEMON (voice-over): After taking cover with her mother and neighbors, they emerged to destruction.

RUSANOVA: Everything is bombed, a lot of glasses was broken, the garage was entirely blown off.

LEMON: This is your house?

RUSANOVA: Yes, mine.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness.

LEMON (voice-over): Her mother taught Tatyana had lived there for 50 years. Now an evacuee with her daughter.

LEMON: Why did you come to Lviv?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, TRANSLATOR: She says that her was destroyed.

LEMON: Your home was destroyed.

LEMON (voice-over): Her dog, Martin, two cats, and a backpack of documents and family photographs were all she and her Darina were able to bring.

RUSANOVA: I think I was shocked, I couldn't even cry, I didn't feel anything. I was like, I'm happy I'm alive, I didn't need -- I don't the house, I don't need anything, I just want to be alive and safe. And each day I was praying my mom and I, our dog are safe and that's actually all I need.

LEMON: Are there lots of people like you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, TRANSLATOR: Many.

LEMON: Many.

LEMON (voice-over): The war weary now, a common sight in Lviv as many Ukrainians came here to escape Russian strikes in the east. Lviv is a relatively city as safe as you can be in war, usually more than 700,000 people live here.

LEMON: Now there are more than 200,000 new refugees. And you don't have to go far to find a family or someone who has been displaced.

LEMON (voice-over): Even in Lviv, the fighting is never far away.

RUSANOVA: Here we feel much more safely, although here there are also some air signals, and we need to go to shelters anyway. And we cannot relax here fully.

LEMON (voice-over): The war hasn't just changed their external circumstances. It's changed something deep inside.

RUSANOVA: I didn't know I could hate people so much, but I really hate people who came to our country, and did all that with my beloved city, with my neighbors, with my friends, a lot of people lost their homes, their families, their pets, they had to flee somewhere. Not knowing if they will find shelter or not. That's so awful, I really hate all that.

LEMON (voice-over): And without an end to the fighting in sight, Darina, her mother, and so many Ukrainians have no idea what to expect next. What else could change?

RUSANOVA: I'm just here with one bag, and with my cats, and my mom too with a bag and with a dog. And that's all our life now. We cannot really plan something. We just plan our next step for the next day.

LEMON: Day-to-day.

RUSANOVA: Yes, day-to-day.

LEMON: You're living day-to-day.

RUSANOVA: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: CNN's Don Lemon reporting there from Lviv. In just in to CNN, Russia's state own task news agency reports Kremlin

critic Alexey Navalny has been found guilty of fraud. Navalny is in court right now where prosecutors are seeking a 13-year prison sentence for the charges of fraud and contempt of court. We will of course bring you more in a live report a little later this hour.

Also ahead, EU officials are meeting in Brussels to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine but will they impose new sanctions on Moscow? We're live in Brussels next.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Six years ago, Ukrainian singer Jamala won the Eurovision song contest. Her entry was the song 1944 about the deportation of Crimean tartars under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Today she is one of more than 3 million people who have fled Ukraine because of the Russian invasion. She's currently in Turkey with her children while her husband had to stay behind in Ukraine.

Joining me now from Istanbul is Jamala. Thank you so much for talking with us. So, you are an incredible singer. Winning the Eurovision contest in 2016 with a song about Stalin's deportation of hundreds of thousands of people from Crimea. And now you yourself are a refugee because of Putin's war on your country. How difficult has this been for you and just how tough was it to get out of Ukraine to Turkey?

JAMALA, UKRAINIAN SINGER AND SONGWRITER: Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you, to speak with the world. Because it's really important for us nowadays to spread this truth because every line on every day I work hard for thoughts about Ukraine, about this false, cruel war in Ukraine.

Yes, I do my best to support Ukraine. My goal today is to reach as many people as I can to tell the story of this unjustified Putin war that Russia started against Ukraine and the whole world. Because, you know, it's not only Ukrainian war, it's really the world should understand it.

[04:20:00]

It's really hard for me to be like in a safe place but I'm not feeling safe due to I hear information in Mariupol now more than 300,000 people are occupied almost three weeks without no food, no water. Russian army killed them in the humanitarian corridors. They killed them, then they want to buy some bread and so on. It's cruel. It's unfettered terror.

CHURCH: Your husband stayed behind in Kyiv --

JAMAL: Yes.

CHURCH: -- to fight against Putin's invasion. What does he tell you is happening there? How difficult has it been for him, his friends and family left behind? JAMAL: He helped to -- he assembled volunteers (INAUDIBLE) and they

help with some special equipment for army and so on. And he says that we are fighting the largest army in the world but it's really -- but we need help. We need help because we can't fight this evil alone because we need your support. We need --

CHURCH: What will happen to your country? Do you think you will have an opportunity to return to Ukraine?

JAMAL: I am sure that we -- I am sure that we will win, I'm sure. Because it's fight for freedom, equality and democracy. We fight for our possibility to leave it home -- in our home and for our territory, for our culture. That's why I don't have any option not to back.

CHURCH: What's your message to Putin?

JAMAL: Actually, I have message to Russian mothers. I'm wondering why the Russian mother are not screaming and storming the Russian military. I understand it's scary. But no one but them can save their children, them. They cross the border with the aim of killing Ukrainian people. I just want to say to all Russians who can save this, save their children not to fight in Ukraine because it's -- it's -- it's nonsense. And I want to say to the world, please support us. Stand with Ukraine. Give us the weapons and because without your help, we are lonely.

CHURCH: I am so sorry you have had to deal with this and all your country men and women. It is horrifying. Jamala, Ukrainian singer, actress and songwriter, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

JAMAL: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: Well, U.S. financial markets are looking to get back on track today after snapping a five-day winning streak. News of a possible half point interest rate hike in May sent the blue chips into the red on Monday. The Dow finished down more than half a percent. The Nasdaq lost .4 of a percent and the S&P 500 was essentially flat.

Well, the war in Ukraine has already helped push gas prices here in the U.S. to new record highs. Now Fitch ratings is revising its prediction for consumer inflation for this year. The agency expects prices to soar by 7 percent this year compared with 4.9 percent last year. Fitch says the increase carries the potential for a huge global supply shock and its chief economist says all the major components of U.S. inflation are rising including core goods, services, energy and food.

Well meanwhile, gas prices here in the U.S. dropped to an average of $4.25 a gallon on Monday. That's down 8 cents from the record high set on March 11th -- according to AAA. But it's unclear if that downward trend will continue considering oil prices are again hovering in the triple digits.

[04:25:00]

Both Brent crude and U.S. crude rose 7 percent on Monday as the EU considers whether to match the United States ban on Russian oil.

Well, EU leaders -- EU ministers, I should say, are meeting in Brussels this week to discuss this complex energy issue as they mull more sanctions on Russia. Meantime, the European Union did agree to adopt its long-awaited Strategic Compass document on Monday. It's part of a plan to beef up the bloc's military defenses. The EU also reached an agreement to provide an additional $551 million in military and other aide to Ukraine.

And for more on this we wanted to bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand who joins us live from Brussels. Good to see you, Natasha. So, are all EU member countries willing to impose more sanctions on Russia? And where they all stand on the energy sector particularly? Will they work together on that?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Rosemary, it does seem that there is near unanimity on the idea of imposing additional sanctions on Russia. Because as we've seen the sanctions that have been imposed so far, by the U.S., by the EU and the West at large, have not really deterred Putin's aggression towards Ukraine.

Now the energy question is a bit more complicated. There are steep divisions within the EU bloc about how to go about actually banning Russian oil from the EU. Of course, the Baltic states have said that they are all in on this. They want to ban Russian oil. But other countries in the EU including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands say that it's just not feasible at this moment. They are too dependent on Russian oil and gas. And so, the idea of a full embargo on that Russian energy is just not on the table at this point they say.

Now it remains to be seen what additional sanctions can be imposed that would actually deter Putin from this operation in Ukraine. Because as we've seen, the Russian tactics in Ukraine have only become more and more brutal even as these sanctions have been imposed against Russian banks, against over 600 Russian oligarchs, against businesses. And it has not had any real deterrent effect on the Russian operation. Even as the United States have said that it is willing to impose additional sanctions along with their partners and allies here.

The Russian tactics, we're told, have gotten more and more indiscriminate. Targeting civilian targets, civilians themselves on the ground there. Because their operation has largely stalled in Ukraine we're told. That has led them to introduce more brutal tactics in order to try to essentially bombard these cities across Ukraine into submission.

So, it remains to be seen what actual pressure the U.S. and the EU can apply here and whether there are any red lines to impose the traditional energy sanctions. Of course, the EU says right now it's just not on the table but what about if a chemical weapons attacked on Ukraine. What about if Russia bombarded, you know, Kyiv, the capital city with missile attacks and with airstrikes. Would that then prompt the EU to say, this is the moment when we have to really impose those tough sanctions on Russia's energy sector. So, it remains to be seen. But of course, a Western intel official did tell us that Putin remains intent on trying to take the entire country as Ukraine -- Rosemary. CHURCH: All right, Natasha Bertrand bringing us the very latest live

from Brussels. Many thanks.

And still to come, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been found guilty of fraud. We will have the latest on that ruling and what he faces next after a very short break.

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