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Ukrainian Forces Fight To Take Back Territory In Kyiv Suburb; U.S. Formally Declares Russia Has Committed War Crimes; Biden In Brussels For Emergency NATO Summit; Russian Govt. Insider Anatoly Chubais Quits His Post; U.S. Officials: Russian General Told Them Situation In Ukraine Is "Tragic" In Rare Meeting; Ukraine Marks One Month Since Start Of Russian Invasion; Ukraine Marks One Month Since Start of Russia Invasion; Taliban Break Promise, Tell Girls over 12 to Go Home; First Female U.S. Secretary of State Dies from Cancer. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 24, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:34]

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine. This day marks one month since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and Western leaders are hours away from a series of emergency talks to address the crisis.

U.S. President Joe Biden is in Brussels right now where he'll attend an extraordinary NATO Summit and G7 as well as European Council meeting. The White House ruled out a stop in Ukraine, but President Biden will travel to Poland Friday to highlight the growing refugee crisis there. This is just west of we are -- where we are. And he'll hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda on Saturday.

Now we'll have more on that in a moment when we go live to Brussels. But first, here are the latest developments on the war itself. A senior U.S. defense officials says Ukrainians have pushed back Russian forces on the frontlines east of Kyiv up to 35 kilometers or 21 miles in one day. Northwest of the capital, CNN teams witnessed this barrage of outgoing fire on Wednesday night. Ukrainian forces have been fighting to take back territory from Russian troops in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin.

The mayor says Ukrainian forces now control 80 percent of that city. A U.S. official says Russian forces are digging into defensive positions northwest of the capital and have not moved any closer. The Mayor of Kyiv says at least 264 civilians, including four children have died since the start of the invasion.

And as Russia's attacks increasingly strikes civilian targets, the U.S. has taken a major step and formally declared that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Now one month since Russia launched this unprovoked assault, Ukraine's President is urging people around the world to demonstrate in support of his country and is asking for more help to fight Russian forces. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): The Ukrainian sky has not been safe from Russian missiles and bombs. We have not received aircraft and modern anti-missile weapons. We have not received tanks and anti-ship equipment. Russian forces can keep killing thousands of our citizens and destroying our cities, just because there are so many of them, just because Russia has been preparing for this war for decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, I want to show you some new images from Ukraine that show the absolute carnage that is taking place in some parts of the country. The first video is from Izyum in eastern Ukraine that is not far from Kharkiv. And I have to warn you, parts of the video are quite graphic. As the man shooting the footage walks, he shows us bombed out and charred buildings, splintered trees. There's also a dead body lying in the street.

And then you see other -- a few other bodies in this footage there. We've obscured the faces of the people who lost their lives. This next video from the hard-hit city of Mariupol also shows graphic scenes. It was recorded by someone driving through streets as the sound of sporadic gunfire rings out and there's a body as well in this case near a burned out car. Then you see debris littering the streets as the driver speeds away.

Earlier I spoke with retired U.S. Army General and CNN Military Analyst Dana Pittard. I'd asked him about progress made by Ukrainian forces. Here's part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. DANA PITTARD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: They have been effective to an extent with a -- the weaponry that they have, their courage and their tenacity. But to be able to really stop the Russian offensive which is temporarily culminated around Kyiv, they're going to need more. Right now the Russian forces are still moving in the south and reaching many of their objectives.

Obviously, miracle is one that has not been reached. But temporarily, the Russian forces around Kyiv have been halted. So in order for Ukrainians to continue on with a counter offensive, they're going to need more assistance.

GORANI: Yes, what kind of assistance?

PITTARD: Well, there's a number of things that can be done. You know, the equivalent of the Berlin Airlift as far as supplies weaponry and ammunition is something that ideally President Biden can help do and help orchestrate in his meetings with NATO leaders, that can certainly be helpful.

[01:05:18] Another thing that can be done that is different than what's been done so far, I think it is time for NATO, maybe under the auspices of the United Nations, but to declare Western Ukraine as a humanitarian assistance zone. And what does that mean? That means, west of Kyiv, all the way down, probably itself is Odessa, would be designated as humanitarian assistance zone, with NATO troops led by the United States, enforcing that, also a no-fly zone over western Ukraine.

Now, they'll be minimal contact with Russian forces, because Russian forces really are not in western Ukraine. But that would send a signal, first of all, to help refugees and the civilians and the quarters going into the humanitarian assistance zone. And also letting Russia know that, at some point, NATO is going to insist on stopping the fighting in the future.

GORANI: Yes. That would kind of be like dipping your toe into a no-fly zone, right? A humanitarian assistance zone over western Ukraine would still require NATO forces to shoot down any Russian aircraft, drone, whatever, in the skies above that part of the country?

PITTARD: Yes, it would in western Ukraine. And NATO would have to, of course, send warnings to Russia to stay out of that area. And that's where potentially there could be tension and conflict. But Russia has its hands full right now in eastern Ukraine with Ukrainian forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Retired Major General Dana Pittard speaking to us. NATO is expected to approve the deployment of four battle groups to protect the alliances eastern flank. They'll go to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, those four nations. NATO will also agree to send Kyiv equipment to defend itself against a potential biological, chemical or nuclear weapon.

President Biden was asked about the possibility of such devastating attacks before he left the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, how concerned are you about the threat of chemical warfare right now? That Russia is using chemical weapons, how high is that threat?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's a real threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, for more let's turn now to Kevin Liptak in Brussels. How does that change the calculus? The fact that this war has lasted a month now that the Ukrainians are defending themselves much better than than expected, which is pushing Russia to use much more blunt force in cities like Mariupol and in the east, and also raising the possibility that a weapon of mass destruction could be used in this conflict?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, and that's certainly the growing fear among U.S. officials and European officials is that President Vladimir Putin might use one of these extreme steps to kind of unblock this stalemate that his military is experiencing in Ukraine. And that will certainly be one question that is looming over these extraordinary sessions that are due to get underway in a matter of hours here in Brussels.

And you heard the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, he said yesterday that a chemical or biological attack in Ukraine would have dire consequences. And it will be up to the leaders who are gathering here to determine what exactly those consequences would be. Would the calculus change about whether NATO would get directly involved in Ukraine if one of these types of weapons is used on the battlefield there?

Up until now, President Biden has been extraordinary really reluctant to commit any U.S. troops on the ground there. That is a line he has said he would not cross in the conversations that will be taking place today, though, we'll be discussing a number of contingencies. Should Vladimir Putin take that next step, including what should happen if some of these radiological or chemical clouds drift over into neighboring countries that are a part of NATO if Vladimir Putin takes that step?

Those are questions that these leaders will have to decide upon and discuss when they meet behind closed doors later today. Now, Stoltenberg also said that NATO would announced new protective equipment in the event of this kind of attack that will be deployed to Ukraine. That is one of the big announcements that's expected to come out of the meeting today.

Also expected to be discussed is bolstering NATO's force posture along the eastern edge of NATO, deploying those new battle groups to this countries on the southern part of the eastern edge and discussing a more longer term force posture, more permanent ramping up of force pasture on NATO's eastern flank.

[01:10:03]

So these are extraordinary meetings they were put together just in the last couple of weeks. President Biden certainly recognizes the very high stakes. He's come all the way here to Brussels to meet with these leaders face to face, Hala.

GORANI: All right, Kevin Liptak live in Brussels. Thanks so much.

The first parts of a new $800 million military aid package from the U.S. have now arrived in Ukraine, including weapons aimed at securing Ukraine's airspace like armed drones and anti-aircraft systems. That is also the mission of one Ukrainian fighter pilot, who spoke exclusively to our Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): counted out early in the war but still going strong. Against all the odds, Russia has not managed to ground Ukraine's Air Force. We spoke to fighter pilot Andriy, who was in an undisclosed location and hiding his identity for safety reasons.

ANDRIY, UKRAINE AIR FORCE PILOT (through translation): At first, Russian pilots dominated in quantity of fighters and newer equipment. Now they're starting to refuse to fly because we're shooting them down. We try to work with tactics.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Andriy says he flies an U.S.-27 air superiority fighter. This is video provided by the Ukrainian military of the same model an older plane but one that's still effective.

ANDRIY (through translation): I shut down Russian planes. Unfortunately, I cannot say which and how many and how exactly I shut them down. Air-to-air missiles, ground to air missiles were repeatedly fired at me. There was a flight when we flew three against 24. It means there are three fighters repelled the attack of their 24 aircraft.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): It's impossible for us to verify those claims but during our interview, we heard what seemed to be a Ukrainian jet taking off.

Andriy says the U.S. helped teach him and his fellow airmen how to beat the Russians.

ANDRIY (through translation): We have our tactics. We conducted the clear sky exercise with our American friends. We now are using some of the tactics we learned from the Americans.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The U.S. and its allies initially believed Russia would own the skies over Ukraine just days after their invasion. But the spokesman for Ukraine's Air Force says they were ready.

YURI IGNAT, SPOKESMAN, UKRAINE AIR FORCE (through translation): We've been preparing for this scenario for eight years. It cannot be said that our military did not think this would not happen. We've destroyed 100 aircraft and 123 helicopters already.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A lot of Russian aircraft have been taken down by shoulder launch missiles supplied by Western allies. But the Ukrainians also still operate longer range systems like the S-300. The Air Force spokesman says Ukraine wants Western missiles and U.S. jets.

IGNAT (through translation): I'm talking about NATO integrated air defense systems, an F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon. They may be unused or decommissioned ones but they could serve the Ukrainian military.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): For Andriy, the battle for the skies over Ukraine is personal. Both his mother and his wife are helping in the effort to fend off the Russians, he says. And that he too is willing to sacrifice.

ANDRIY (through translation): Everyone's afraid of being killed. It's one thing to die with honor. Another thing is to die without honor. PLEITGEN (voice-over): The U.S. has said Ukraine's Air Force remains largely intact and combat ready. The battle for the skies, another area where this outgunned nation is persevering against all odds.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, still to come, amid reports of low morale among Russian troops, CNN gets exclusive access to the readout of a meeting between U.S. military officials and a Russian general. His reported reactions to the Russian invasion just ahead. You don't want to miss this story.

Plus, reports that the highest ranking Russian official yet has resigned and left the country in protest against the war in Ukraine. We'll be right back.

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[01:18:31]

GORANI: Well, in a quite significant development, a longtime Kremlin insider has now become the highest ranking Russian official to leave his post reportedly because of the war in Ukraine. Sources tell Reuters, Anatoly Chubais has left the country and does not plan to return. CNN's Nina dos Santos has details on that story from London.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Anatoly Chubais, a veteran, reformer in Russia over the last two decades became the most senior member of government to step down and leave the country in protest of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Well, according to the TASS news agency and other Western media outlets as well, Chubais has left Russia and also stepped down from his position where he was overseeing the sustainable development goals for Russia.

He's a huge political figure who's been active since the end of the 1990s when he worked for Boris Yeltsin, the previous president of Russia, before Vladimir Putin. And also ran the main state energy monopoly during the early days of Putin's ascendancy as well. He oversaw alongside other economists, so huge privatization of swathes of the Russian economy, that thereby critics say created an oligarchy class that we see to this day. An oligarch class that was once quite close to Vladimir Putin, but that has being pressured increasingly by the international community with sanctions to try and thereby put pressure on the Russian president to change his course of action in Ukraine.

[01:20:00]

Chubais is among one of a number of technocrats and former members of the Russian government who have started to speak out against the war in Ukraine. The latest before him was the former Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who stands at the helm of the International Chess Federation. He recently gave an interview last week to Mother Jones in the United States, saying that war would not help anyone and also would dash people's dreams. Nina dos Santos, CNN in London.

GORANI: Well, CNN was given an exclusive inside look at a Russian military leader getting unusually emotional while meeting with American military officials last week, according to a readout of that encounter obtained by CNN. In the document, U.S. officials describe what they viewed as a revealing moment from a Russian general.

And as CNN's Barbara Starr reports, defense officials say this could hint at growing morale problems inside Vladimir Putin's armed forces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With Russia's war in Ukraine stalled and the U.S. sane (ph) morale is a problem for Russian forces, CNN has learned of a rare meeting in Moscow between U.S. and Russian military officials, which according to a U.S. readout of the meeting, contained a, quote, revealing moment from Russian Major General Yevgeny Ilyin, a general with extensive experience dealing with Americans.

As the meeting ended, the readout says an attache on the U.S. side casually asked about Ilyin's family roots in Ukraine. According to the readout, the U.S. official said that general's stoic demeanor suddenly became flushed and agitated. Ilyin replied, he was born in Ukraine and went to school in Donetsk, and then said, according to the readout, the situation in Ukraine is tragic, and I am very depressed over it, before walking out without shaking hands.

The attache wrote in the readout, "The fire in his eyes and fluster demeanor left a chill down the spine." Meetings with Russian officials are typically scripted, but the two attache said they had never witnessed such an outburst by Russian counterparts at an official meeting. The readout by the officials concludes, "At the very least, it is clear that morale problems among Russian forces are not limited to frontline troops."

The readout describes only the impressions of the U.S. officials and does not definitively explain Ilyin's behavior. Such readouts are typically too sensitive to be made public.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Readouts of this type are important because they give us an insight or potential insight into what the Russians are really thinking. But it also shows that there is some kind of a morale problem within the Russian hierarchy. And it extends possibly all the way up to the top.

STARR (voice-over): The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a CNN request for comment on the meeting, or the readout. But the Kremlin has denied reports of low morale among its forces in Ukraine.

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON: You would probably have to doubt this information. You have to doubt it and you have to think twice whether it is true or not.

STARR (voice-over): As Russia faces stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, if the Americans are correct, and morale was an issue, it's a challenge the Russians can ill afford.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We've seen increasing indications that morale and unit cohesion is a problem. And yes, that absolutely translates into potential military effectiveness issues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: A Russian general flushed and agitated, according to the Americans, just one more mystery about what really may be going on behind Kremlin walls.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

GORANI: Well, the war in Ukraine is now a month old with no sign that either side is prepared to back down. We'll take a look at how this conflict has unfolded and the toll it is taking on innocent civilians.

Plus, we'll speak live with an independent journalist in Kyiv for an update from the capital. Stay with us.

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[01:28:24]

GORANI: Well it was one month ago that the Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of this country. Take a look at some of the video.

Well, soon after that happened, air raid sirens began sounding in the capital Kyiv, but Russian forces failed to take the city and resorted to indiscriminate shelling across the country as we've been reporting. The U.N. says nearly 1,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed. The actual death toll is likely much higher.

More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled their country. Millions more are displaced within it. The U.N. refugee agency calls it the fastest moving refugee crisis since World War II.

But many civilians have chosen to stay and fight with whatever materials they can gather. Here, a group forums and assembly line to make Molotov cocktails. Other citizens are taking up arms to defend their country. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Ukraine's determination to defend itself deserves Western support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: In Kherson, in Berdyansk, in Melitopol, they are waving their blue and yellow flags in the faces of the occupying soldiers. And they haven't stopped even after Russian soldiers have beaten them and shut some of them down. Honorable members, a freedom has a name. Its name is Ukraine, and the Ukrainian flag is the flag of freedom today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:29:36]

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: That was Ursula Von Der Leyen, the European Commission president.

Nataliya Gumenyuk is an independent journalist. She joins us live from Kyiv. And Nataliya, last time I spoke with you was I think about ten days ago. You were in Kharkiv. You were showing us what the high street there was like, the shops that had been bombed and gutted.

You are now in Kyiv, tell us in the last week what you have been able to observe.

NATALIYA GUMENYUK, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: So it's my hometown. Kyiv is not really luckily, (INAUDIBLE) but it is definitely in better shape thanks to the better defense and the means to defend it.

There are still more than a million people -- up to 2 million people living in Kyiv. Of course, we do experience the curfew at night, sometimes lasting very long.

But the shelling is taking place mainly on the outskirts. However, a day before -- that was yesterday, the journalist -- a Russian journalist has been killed during the attack in one of the parking lots in the shopping mall in one of the residential areas closer to the outskirts. Overall, two people died and two people were wounded. She was covering the story.

And still, earlier this week, on Monday, one of the kind of big and modern shopping malls has been destroyed. Eight people had passed away.

So the shelling takes place mainly -- largely on the outskirts. But there is the death toll to it. Allegedly, according to the Ukrainian military, during the fighting which has taken place also this week, the Russian troops were moved around 50 kilometers away from Kyiv on the north.

So it is not really this direct threat of siege. But of course, it is still a city of war. And some areas and roads up north of the town are not really still accessible --

GORANI: Yes. And what we're seeing on the map here is that the Russian effort to encircle the capital has suffered a setback, right? Because these forces on the ground are now just defending their positions. They are pushing some of the Russian troops back, right?

GUMENYUK: Exactly, and they do claim -- the Ukrainian military claim that they've partially encircled the Russian troops in the places where they are so they might be cut out from the logistical support. Of course, it's quite impossible to identify this and verify that independently.

We are speaking about exactly that area where the American journalists were killed. Exactly, these are the places where journalists aren't really allowed to say, but we do understand that there is this movement, and there is some humanitarian effort to help people in those villages.

But to add something on the other side of the story, just like looking at the statistic. We heard that -- we understood from the polls that half of the Ukrainians lost their jobs within these month of world. Just quarter of them managed to stay, a quarter of them remain to do what they used to do. And a quarter find some new distant job. It's mainly because also there is no proper transportation. So in Kyiv, the public transport doesn't work properly.

There is still the supermarket and everybody and I can verify the claim that there is enough supply in the town. But of course, the life is disturbed, and again quoting the government sources, just overnight there were 250 airstrikes around the country. Some of them were prevented, some of them not.

But what is important for me to stress that it is possible to defend, and prevent airstrikes with a capable air defense. It's not kind of an imminent and irreversible threat. It could be possible with a different weaponry or defense system to, you know, to defend people from those airstrikes, which is the most important and the biggest cause of damage in Ukraine.

GORANI: Sure, and what you mentioned about half of Ukrainians having lost their jobs. I mean shops are still stocked, in those cities that aren't suffering from major shelling an area bombardment.

But at the same time, we're only a month in. I mean when wars drag on, obviously, economies suffer, people just can't provide for themselves for their families, their kids don't go to school. It's an entire social fabric that starts suffering.

[01:34:49]

GORANI: Where is morale right now, one month in? We've been reporting that it's high overall. But in your experience, the people -- you're from Kyiv, the people you speak to, your family, your friends -- where are they in terms of their willingness to continue to defend their land?

GUMENYUK: So again, somehow Ukrainian companies are able to do the polls, so it's not just the feelings. So, far 93 percent of Ukrainians are believing in the Ukrainian week to week. It's not really the bravado, it's the feeling that there is no other choice, because we're closely following -- and me, myself on what's going on in the towns occupied where there are, you know, protesters beaten or shot, and there are some searches for abductions and arrests.

But yes, in Kyiv, morale is high. It's already clear -- very clear but people who are capable to stand, of course -- to stay, not everybody of course, but they stayed, and they kind of find their way. There are some reasons for people staying.

Many people moved, as you told earlier, about the refugees. But even those people who moved away, there is this feeling that they would be back, they're not moving for quite a long time. We know this is a case for a lot of refugees. But still Ukrainians feel that for a long time, especially in the western media, it was said that Ukraine would be overtaken within a couple of days. But Ukrainians really never doubted that it would take longer.

And what we now experience, even with this tragic situation, it's something which is not surprising. It's exactly as many people imagined it.

GORANI: Sure, Nataliya Gumenyuk, thank you very much for joining us. We really appreciate your reporting there from the Ukrainian capital.

And if you'd like to help people in Ukraine, who may need shelter, food, and water, go to CNN.com slash impact. There's so many people feel helpless when they're far away and they see all this misery. 70,000 people have contributed so far.

And by the way, they have contributed, our viewers, in other disasters and other wars, and your generosity is so appreciated.

I'll have more from Ukraine at the top in the next hour.

First, let's go to John Vause in Atlanta.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hala, thank you for that. We'll take a short break. When we come back, the Taliban's decision to postpone reopening schools for all the girls is being condemned around the world. But is the government in Kabul actually listening? Details, in a moment.

[01:37:14]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Search teams in southern China have found the cockpit voice recorder from a Boeing passenger jet which crashed Monday. Still no word on the other so-called black box, the flight data recorder, both will be crucial to determine why the China Eastern flight with 132 passengers and crew suddenly plunge from 30,000 feet into the side of the mountain. So far no survivors have been found.

The child-bride marrying, misogynistic, female-phobic Taliban have reneged on their promise to allow girls to attend high school despite repeatedly making that promise since taking power last August.

The U.N. Secretary General described decision as deeply damaging for Afghanistan, to say nothing of the emotional harm suffered by thousands of girls who turned up for school on Tuesday only to be told go home.

Here's CNN's Paula Newton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT; For the first time in more than seven months, Afghan schools reopened Wednesday for a much anticipated return. But it was a day that ended in heartbreak, tears and anger for many after the Taliban announced girls above sixth great must stay home.

That decision came just hours after schools have reopened. Many eager female students arriving back only to find they wouldn't be let inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are they playing with our future? We have rights. We are humans from this country. We want to be free. We just want to continue our education. Is it a sin that we are girls?

NEWTON: A Taliban news agency said the delay is so uniforms can be designed according to Sharia and Afghan customs. But the decision is viewed by many as an excuse as condemnation rings out across the globe.

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: This is a betrayal of public commitments that the Taliban leadership made to the Afghan people and to the international community.

NEWTON: In a tweet, Nobel laureate Malala Yusufzai says I had one hope for today, that Afghan girls walking to school would not be sent back home. But the Taliban did not keep their promise. They will keep finding excuses to stop girls from learning, because they are afraid of educated girls and empowered women."

Others also expressing dismay.

RAVINA SHAMDASANI, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: This is of grave concern at a time when the country desperately needs to overcome multiple intersecting crises.

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: No country can grow by excluding women and girls from education. I mean the fact that we still had to say this in the 21st century --

NEWTON: In recent months, the Taliban have repeatedly insisted they would not go back to how things were in the late 90s and early 2000s when women and girls were banned from working or going to school.

It has been seven months since this now iconic scene of thousands stranded at the airport in Kabul, desperately trying to leave after the Taliban's takeover.

Now those left behind, seeing human rights withering away, among them the tearful schoolgirls whose hopes of an education are now shattered.

Paula Newton, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The tough questions are now over for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Next comes the vote for the first black woman ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Details in a moment.

[01:44:49]

VAUSE: Also, remembering Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state. Remembered for her achievements, her one- line zingers, and her unique brooch diplomacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: We have this just in. North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile into the waters of the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. That happened Thursday. And that is according to the joint chiefs of staff in Seoul in South Korea. It is unclear how many projectiles have been fired.

You may recall there was a flurry of missile tests earlier this year. We will continue to follow that story, bring you details as we get them.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote in less than two weeks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court. But it is becoming increasingly unlikely she will receive any support from Republicans.

They spent another day attacking her judicial record, in particular what they consider lenient sentencing on child pornography cases.

[01:49:47]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): This is a case where you had an 18-year- old who possessed and distributed hundreds of images of eight-year- olds and nine-year-olds and ten-year-olds. And you gave him frankly a slap on the wrist of three months. Do you regret it?

JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: Senator, I don't remember whether it was distribution or possession in the law --

HAWLEY: It was both, do you regret it?

JACKSON: -- in the law, there are different crimes that people commit --

HAWLEY: Judge, you gave him three months. My question is do you regret it or not?

JACKSON: Senator, what I regret is that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we've spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For Democrats though, this confirmation hearing was more like a coronation. Judge Jackson Brown wiped away tears as Senator Cory Booker talked about obstacles she overcame to become the first black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. president has ordered flags to be flown to half staff at the White House to honor the late Madeleine Albright. The first woman to serve as secretary of state died Wednesday after battling cancer. Albright was nominated and appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 after serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. As secretary of state, she championed the expansion of NATO.

Shortly before her death, she shared some of her strong views about the war in Ukraine with her former boss. Bill Clinton says she spent much of that conversation talking about, quote "how Ukraine had to be defended".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The idea that Putin was trying to SELL the argument that a country with a Jewish president was actually a Nazi country was plainly absurd. And She just wanted to support whatever we could do to back Ukraine. That is all she wanted to talk about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: After her death, Clinton said few leaders had been so perfectly suited for the times in which they served.

CNN's Richard Roth looks back at her trail blazing accomplishments, her quips and her controversies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN U.N. CORRESPONDENT: As a diplomat where tact and treading gingerly on contentious issues are the norm, Madeleine Albright was never one to mince words.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not cojones. This is cowardice.

ROTH: Whether it was her colorful use of language condemning Cuba for shooting down U.S. pilots or her strident assessment of the leader of Iraq.

ALBRIGHT: I don't think the world has seen, except maybe since Hitler, somebody who is quite as evil as Saddam Hussein.

ROTH: The Iraqi dictator was said to be so incensed by Albright's verbal attacks he published a poem in Iraqi newspapers calling her "an unrelenting serpent".

Albright's response was one of quiet defiance. From that moment forward, she wore a brooch in the shape of a serpent at every meeting with the Iraqi leadership. And she began using her pins, as she called them, as a way of sending subtle massages without uttering a single word.

Born Marie Jana Korbelova to a Czechoslovakian diplomat, Albright and her family fled the former Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion in 1939 and later found safe haven in the United States in 1948. She became a U.S. citizen, married media tycoon Joseph Patterson Albright and had three children, all while working on her PhD and learning multiple languages.

In 1982, Albright took a prestigious position as professor of international affairs at Georgetown university. But it was the shock of her husband asking for a divorce around that same time that changed the course of her life.

ALBRIGHT: There was an identity crisis. As it turns out, I think those next ten years were the ones that were the most influential.

ROTH: She poured herself into her work, becoming foreign policy adviser to then presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992. Clinton in turn tapped her for the post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations after he won the White House.

As U.N. ambassador, Albright became known for her tenacity and determination to elevate U.S. interests at the U.N. through what she called aggressive multilateralism.

ALBRIGHT: We must summon the spine to deter, the support to isolate and the strength to defeat those who run roughshod over the rights of others.

ROTH: She pushed hard for U.S. boots on the ground in the Balkans. The U.S. administration chose diplomacy instead, a decision that came at a costly human price.

An even bigger regret, the failure of the U.S. to intervene to stop the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

ALBRIGHT: I, Madeleine Korbel Albright --

ROTH: Lessons learned from her past and the present as Albright cemented her place in history becoming the first ever female U.S. Secretary of State on January 23rd, 1997.

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ROTH: When the Kosovo conflict erupted in 1998, Albright lobbied forcefully for NATO intervention. The NATO-led effort helped Kosovo gain independence from Serbian control. And the ICC indicted Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes.

ALBRIGHT: Never again will there be massacres and mass graves.

ROTH: Through it all, Albright's experience as a refugee who found the American dream was omnipresent in her life.

ALBRIGHT: My life reflects both the turbulence of Europe in the middle of the century and the tolerance and generosity of America throughout its existence.

ROTH: In her later years, Albright's comments in support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton backfired.

ALBRIGHT: There is a special place in hell for women who don't help each other. ROTH: She apologized for the timing of her so-called undiplomatic

moment in a "New York Times" op-ed and seized the opportunity to make a passionate case for gender equality by saying "My hope is that young women will build on the progress we have made, but that will happen only if women help one another. And for those who do that, there will always be a special place of honor."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Secretary Albright was 84 years old.

I'm John Vause. Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.

Our breaking news coverage continues with Hala Gorani in Lviv Ukraine after a very short break.

You're watching CNN.

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