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Officials Estimate 600 Survived Mariupol Theater Attack, 300 Died; Biden To Make Major Address On Ukraine; Russian Ground Assault On Kyiv Halted; Warsaw Mayor Pleads For Help With Refugees; Life In Kyiv Amid Invasion; Russian General: "First Stage" Over, Focus Now On Eastern Ukraine; Ukrainian Pop Stars Join Military Ranks; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Doha Conference; Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Dead At 50; North Korea Ballistic Missile Launch Condemned By 15 Countries. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 26, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to viewers around the world and in the United States at this hour. I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine.
Ukraine is not winning the war against Russia but it's not losing it, either, one month in. And that could be pivotal in the days and weeks ahead. In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the U.S. says Russian troops have stopped advancing on the capital, Kyiv.
In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the U.S. says Russian troops have stopped advancing on the capital, Kyiv. Video shows damaged Russian tanks and vehicles after Ukrainian soldiers claim to have routed the Russians from a suburb east of Kyiv.
And a top Russian general now claims this is all according to Moscow's battle plan from the beginning and that its focus will now turn to Eastern Ukraine. The general also said some 1,300 Russian troops had died in the fighting, the first casualty update in some time from the Russians.
However, this doesn't square at all with the figures we are hearing from NATO and Ukraine. Ukraine's president believes the actual Russian death toll is far higher.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The number of Russian casualties in this war has already exceeded 16,000 killed. Among them are senior commanders.
There have not been reports about killed Russian colonels, general or admirals yet. But the commander of one of the occupying armies and deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet are already there. (END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: New video from Mariupol shows the aftermath of Russian strike on a crowded theater. About 1,000 people were believed to be sheltering inside at the time. Local officials estimate 600 survived, 300 were killed. CNN has more now on Ukrainian forces battling to retake territory east of Kyiv.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian armor smashed in a Ukrainian assault, east of the capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): Ukraine now claims to have blocked Russia's offensive against Kyiv.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): He said, "We've been engaged in a counterattack to recapture Druzhkivka. The operation has been a complete success. We decisively repelled the enemy."
At times, it's been a ferocious infantry fight and it's taken several weeks. Ukraine has also relied heavily on modern drones, here, ambushing Russians from the air. Tank crews are sent running for cover.
Ukraine has claimed that badly-led Russian forces do have more manpower but that they are reeling under unexpected attacks and lack of supplies.
ZINA KHILKO, CIVILIAN VICTIM'S WIFE: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): What they say may be true, according to Zina Khilko, who's tending to her wounded husband in the nearby Brovary hospital. Her village was overrun by Russians. And she described dealing with Russian soldiers, who were hungry, cold and out of control.
KHILKO: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): She said, "They wore my women's hat, my coat, my boots. They wore our clothes. They took out bedding. I don't know what they've done with it. They slept. They ate. They wandered about. They stole our money."
KHILKO: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): A Russian soldier, whom she said was drunk, blasted her husband's leg off with a stolen shotgun.
KHILKO: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): "So then, we were two days in the basement," she said.
"We started stopping the blood flow and giving first aid. We've got two medics. I'm a midwife. And there was a nurse with us."
KHILKO: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): She said that two Russian officers later admitted that they didn't support Putin's invasion. And others helped her evacuate her husband, Vasyl, to Ukrainian lines.
Maxim, a professional Ukrainian soldier, was shot in the shin during a firefight a few miles from the hospital. He shares Zina's contempt for Russian forces.
MAXIM, UKRAINIAN SOLDIER: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): "Their commanders are sending their soldiers to the slaughter," he said. "These bastards, they're just sent to their deaths. The officers don't pity them. They don't even count their losses."
Civilians here, do. Andriy Mulyar, arrived at the hospital, when we were there. He'd been helping his brother, Dmitry, a beekeeper, attend his hives, when Russian shells fell among them, three hours earlier.
Mortally wounded, Dmitry was dead on arrival. He leaves a wife and three kids.
ANDRIY MULYAR, DMITRY'S BROTHER: (Speaking foreign language).
KILEY (voice-over): He said, "These aren't people. They aren't even animals. I don't know what to call them" -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Brovary.
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GORANI: The American president, Joe Biden, is in Poland. In the coming hours, he'll give what the White House calls a major address on the war.
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GORANI: Earlier he announced a new push to deny Russia some of the cash flow it needs for the invasion. He said the U.S. and the E.U. will work to wean Europe from Russian oil and gas and prevent Moscow from reaping profits.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know that eliminating Russian gas will have costs for Europe. But it's not only the right thing to do from a moral standpoint. It's going to put us on a much stronger strategic footing.
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GORANI: After his summit in Belgium, Mr. Biden flew to Poland, meeting U.S. troops there. He told them the pushback against Russia is about more than Ukraine itself.
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BIDEN: What's at stake is not just what we're doing here in Ukraine, to try to help the Ukrainian people and keep the massacre from continuing.
But beyond that, what's at stake is what are your kids and grandkids going to look like, in terms of their freedom?
What you're engaged in is much more than just whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine. We're in a new phase, your generation. We're at an inflection point.
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GORANI: Kevin Liptak is joining me live from Warsaw with more on what to expect -- Kevin.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The speech the president will deliver is his chance to recap the visit to Europe and define the next phase of the war in Ukraine, both on the battleground where American officials say the Russian army has reached a stalemate and in the Western response, trying to keep the sanctions pressure going forward and reup the deterrence and the effort that you're seeing him reiterating in Poland.
You saw it when president visited a town 60 miles from the Ukrainian border. As Air Force One was taxiing in, you could see the Patriot missile battery systems the U.S. has provided.
As he was speaking with the 82nd Airborne, he reiterated the U.S. was here to reassure Poland and those troops are part of a force readjustment on the eastern flank of NATO that the president has approved and is considering adding more troops as the war proceeds.
Today is about putting a human face on the humanitarian crisis that's ensued. He will meet with refugees in Warsaw. He heard yesterday from aid workers and the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, about the plight of the refugees, Duda calling them "wounded persons" and saying they suffered mentally from what's happening in Ukraine.
And of course the president wants to hear from them directly. Part of his goal in visiting Poland, his aides say, is to put more of a human factor in some of the decisions he's making in Washington, some of the decisions made earlier this week in Brussels.
Later the president will sit for more bilateral talks with president Duda before he finishes out day with what the White House is calling a very significant speech. It's his opportunity to set out his view of what's happening here.
You can expect him to use the frame of autocracy versus democracy, that's what he's been using to describe his foreign policy for months, even before he became president. And you can expect him to reiterate it today before he heads back to Washington later this evening. GORANI: Kevin Liptak, thanks very much.
Last hour I spoke with Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, who has been calling for a more forceful military response from the West. I asked her if she had heard anything that make her think the West is listening. Here's her response.
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KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN MP: What we heard is that it is OK for us to die of bullets, OK for us to die of missiles, OK for my people to die of hunger in the occupied cities. But if and when the chemical weapons will be used, then there will be a change.
And you can imagine that this was extremely painful, that this was extremely annoying because, on the day one of war and on the day 31 of war, we do need the same thing. And we are asking for the same thing to help us, to close the sky, to give us the weaponry.
We don't need NATO troops on the ground or in these jets. We need for us to be able to protect ourselves. You know, it's 8:00 am right now in Kyiv.
You know how many air raid sirens we heard during the night?
Eight, eight times Russians tried to attack my city. Eight times, there were a risk that I would not be able to take this call today because there is no protection, because it could have hit anyway -- anywhere.
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RUDIK: And this is why we are asking for the thing that we do really need, the jets, the Air Force protection, the Patriots.
And we are saying that, look, are the deaths not enough?
The amount of deaths for the whole month of war?
Or is our bravery that we are showing as an army, as Ukrainians, is not enough?
So like, what is the reason that we are not getting the weapons?
And if the -- the whole world is so afraid of Putin, then why Biden is saying, well, I will change our mind if there will be a chemical attack?
Do we understand how cruel this sounds?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine's Parliament.
All of Ukraine's European neighbors are welcoming refugees but Romania is bracing for new wave of displaced Ukrainians. And that has people worrying whether or not they can cope. That's ahead.
Plus some of the youngest victims in the war are severely wounded children, who are in a hospital being cared for.
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GORANI: Poland is welcoming more refugees from this war than anyone else. So it's no surprise that the mayor of Warsaw is asking for help.
At the opening of a refugee assistance center, he said we cannot do this on our own. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council agrees and said it's time for everyone in Europe to share the burden.
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JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: We need European responsibility sharing now. This is the worst war in Europe since the Second World War. It is not for the neighbors to respond to this. It's for the continent to respond to this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: You can see on this map, more than 2 million refugees have fled to Poland from Ukraine. Germany has taken 130 Ukrainians who were in Moldova, a small number but it's the start of an air bridge to take refugees across Europe.
Romania is housing more than half a million refugees. And now officials are preparing for another wave. Miguel Marquez has the details from Bucharest.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just two things happening with refugees in Romania right now. One, the number of Ukrainian refugees coming over the border is starting to tick up ever so slightly. It had been on the decrease for the last two weeks. And now, it's starting to increase again.
It's not clear if this is the beginning of another big wave of refugees coming across the border here.
The other thing is that it is settling in, to many that we speak to, that this is not going to be weeks or months; this is going to be months and years. So they are looking at other options from -- to move on from Romania, essentially, applying for visas in other places.
Many we speak to would love to go to the U.S. But right now, they are saying that, when they inquire, it is just not possible to even apply for a visa to the U.S. So it's welcome news that the president has announced that these 100,000 visa applications will be made available to Ukrainian refugees.
But it's not entirely clear when they can start applying. In the days ahead, that should become more clear to them.
But we spoke to one woman who was from Kharkiv. This is a very sensitive soul. She was an artist, 61 years old, had sort of been chased out of Crimea in 2014 by the Russian invasion there. She still doesn't understand what this war is about.
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LYUBOV BEIZMENOVA, ARTIST AND UKRAINIAN REFUGEE (through translator): I don't understand why Kharkiv, which is Russian, must be destroyed. We are Ukraine. Kharkiv is Ukraine, Russian-speaking but Ukraine.
How can you be an older brother for 70 years and then beat your own?
I don't understand. I don't understand.
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MARQUEZ: So this woman has now applied for a visa to Canada. She has a friend there and thinks that it will be granted in the next couple days. She's left everything behind in Kharkiv. She is not entirely sure she will go back there but she believes that she will eventually and that Ukraine will remain Ukraine and that it will rebuild and get beyond this.
On the numbers coming across the border, there is a very big number of refugees that are internally displaced in Ukraine. And that is the concern now.
And what they're preparing for in places like Bucharest, where they have tons of availability in makeshift refugee centers right now in the city, waiting to see if those humanitarian corridors open up and if the Russians continue to push into the West and into those civilian areas with the sort of massive force that they have been doing.
They are prepared for it here in Romania. Everyone holding their breath to see how far this will go -- back to you.
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GORANI: Thanks, Miguel Marquez.
The people of Ukraine are understandably war weary but they're not giving up, in fact, it's just the opposite. That's the word I got earlier from human rights lawyer based in Kyiv about the morale in the capital as the war drags on.
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OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: We have a huge wave of solidarity in the city and across the country. And it's a very interesting time because people express their best teachers. This war provide us a chance to be better than we are. GORANI: Yes.
What do you mean by that?
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MATVIICHUK: I mean that ordinary people start to do unordinary things. They care about each other. They have risked their life because of people whom they never seen before. And this is very sharp moment when we feel what does it mean to be a human being.
GORANI: Yes, so ordinary people doing extraordinary things, a good test of character is always being faced with a crisis.
And are you feeling a renewed sense of belonging to your country, a renewed sense of pride in Ukraine as a result of this?
MATVIICHUK: I feel a huge love to my country. I feel a huge love to Ukrainian people and huge love to our values of democracy and freedom. And that's why we are ready to continue our fight for these values to the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. Well, Ukrainian children are all too often the victims of Russia's indiscriminate attacks. Among them, an 11-year old, who fled Mariupol. Ivan Watson has her story from the children's hospital where she's now being treated.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Milena Uralova lies in a hospital recovering nine days after a Russian soldier shot her through the face. Horribly wounded and yet quick to show off how she can count in English.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, (INAUDIBLE).
WATSON (voice-over): "She can't speak loudly," her mother, Elana, explains.
"She has a bullet wound to her jaw and the base of her tongue," she says.
The bullet was lodged in her throat near her carotid artery.
WATSON: Milena does gymnastics. She's going to show me a couple of videos.
WATSON (voice-over): This was Milena before Russia invaded Ukraine, flipping and dancing. But now she can barely walk. We met Milena here in a makeshift bomb shelter in the basement of a children's hospital.
WATSON: The nurses here say that six or seven times a day and night, due to air raid sirens, they have to bring these newborns, who all have medical complications, in and out of this room for hours at a time for their safety.
WATSON (voice-over): The windows protected by sandbags. On March 16th, Elana, her two daughters and mother-in-law fled from the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol after enduring weeks of Russian bombardment, jumping into the back of a car with two strangers to escape.
They navigated many Russian military checkpoints and then, at around noon, Elana says they made a turn toward the town of Vasylivka and stumbled across Russian soldiers, who opened fire on the car without warning.
ELENA URALOVA, MILENA'S MOTHER (through translator): We started turning and that's when they started firing at us from submachine guns. After that, of course, the driver stopped.
We started opening our doors, walking out with our hands up, after which they were shouting something -- we did not know what. And that is when we saw what happened to my daughter, the younger one. We took her out of the car as she was wounded.
WATSON (voice-over): Her mother says, realizing their mistake, the Russian soldiers gave her daughter first aid and sent her to a nearby hospital in the Russian occupied town of Tokmak. A Red Cross vehicle later brought her to this hospital for lifesaving surgery. The hospital has treated nine wounded children in the last two weeks.
WATSON: What injuries are you seeing now?
IVAN ANIKIN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: Different injuries, different trauma. It's head trauma, it's amputation, traumatic amputation. It's bullets trauma.
WATSON (voice-over): Dr. Ivan Anikin says Milena is now stable and will live, hopefully without long-term physical disability.
ANIKIN: But she has not so good psychology status. She worries, she cry, she afraid different sounds.
WATSON (voice-over): Milena's mother has a message for the Russian soldiers who shot her daughter.
URALOVA (through translator): Go back home.
Why are they here?
They're mercenaries, don't care about us, don't care about the situation in this country or this war. They don't care who they are shooting at.
WATSON (voice-over): As for Milena, she shows photos of her cats, Musa (ph) and Boucher (ph), and looks forward to, one day, going back to doing gymnastics -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Coming up, Russian military says the first phase of its mission is over. That's what it's calling it.
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GORANI: And it has its eyes set on new goal. But a former U.S. lieutenant general says that announcement is laughable. We'll explain after this.
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GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani in Lviv.
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GORANI: Russia claims it has achieved initial goals in its war in this country and will now focus on what it calls the, quote, "liberation of the eastern Donbas" region.
A top Russian general says the encirclement of cities like Kyiv is a deliberate plan to tie down Ukrainian forces to prevent them from focusing on Donbas. But CNN military analyst retired General Mark Hertling is not buying that explanation.
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LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's a pretty bold strategy to say you've succeeded in phase one and you are about to transfer to phase two after you've wrapped 190,000 Russian soldiers around a front that was 14 mile -- 1,400 miles long and then say, yes, what we really wanted to do was go into the Donbas, an area that they had already had a stalemate in.
It's just beyond belief. It's laughable. And it shows that not only is Putin incompetent as a strategist but his generals must be really sycophantic in terms of their comedic display of support for something like this.
It just doesn't coincide with any kind of military plan or activity that I've ever seen before and, certainly, one that doesn't have victory as an end state.
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GORANI: Let's bring in Atika Shubert. She is following this story. She is in Valencia, Spain.
This is a departure, right, from the initial goal they stated, to, quote, "denazify and demilitarize" the country.
It sounds like entirely different objective.
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Absolutely. I think it is a significant shift in the public messaging, first of all delivered by a very senior general, the first deputy chief of staff at the Russian general staff. That in itself is significant.
But the fact he said the main goal now is the liberation of Donbas, is very different. Granted this is an area of eastern Ukraine that's been partially under the control of Russian-backed separatists for years, since 2014.
So on the ground that may not mean much. But in terms of messaging, it's different. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Ukraine even had a right to exist, said it should be demilitarized, denazified, presumably toppling the current government, presumably, which hasn't happened.
Russian troops to the east of Kyiv have been beaten back. So what we're seeing is a shift of messaging, trying to reframe the narrative. And what may be happening here is that Russia -- keep in mind, the Ukrainian president always said, the only way to end this is direct talks with Russia.
So Volodymyr Zelenskyy always said we have to talk directly to Vladimir Putin to end this. So this public messaging may be a way for the Russian military to create a face-saving framework, to walk back to the negotiating table with a tenable position.
That would be the optimistic view. The reality on the ground, however, may be we'll still see an intensification of fighting in Eastern Ukraine, in the city of Mariupol, besieged by Russian troops and is critical to that Donetsk-Luhansk area.
So we may not see an end of fighting with this messaging but we may be seeing the beginning steps of trying to diplomatically walk back to the negotiating table.
GORANI: OK, Atika Shubert, thanks very much.
About four years ago, the Ukrainian band, Antytila, featured one of the country's biggest stars in the video for their song.
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GORANI (voice-over): Look familiar?
That star there is now the president of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The band have traded their guitars for guns, defending their land.
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GORANI: We're now joined by the group's front man, Taras Topolia.
Thanks for being with us. I see you're out there, fighting. You are supporting the resistance against the Russian invasion.
Can you talk to us about -- for instance, the last few days, what you have been doing? [03:35:00]
TARAS TOPOLIA, ANTYTILA: Hello, everybody. I'm Taras Topolia, I'm saying hi from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
So last two days, so last month, we are defending our country and resist the Russian occupiers. So what exactly we do, my command with my colleagues, the musicians of Antytila band, we making location. We making location injured soldiers from the battlefield and just transport them to the hospital, as small, more fast as we can.
GORANI: So you're helping evacuate wounded soldiers.
What have you been witnessing in terms of the fighting?
We've been reporting that the Russians are taking some losses and suffering some setbacks as well.
Is that what you've seen on the ground?
TOPOLIA: What I've seen on the ground is Russian army it's like a fake. So they can't -- on the battlefield, they are -- it is not an army. I don't know -- I can't find the words to explain you what it is.
So is it that Europe and the world are scary?
So no, it's ridiculous. So just now, during last week, Ukrainian military forces are pushing out the Russian army from the small villages and small cities and, slowly, step by step, they're just striking everywhere.
So we don't afraid them and we know it is not an army. It is something -- even not similar.
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GORANI: Basically you're saying they're not fighting effectively?
That they're not motivated?
I wonder, Taras, did you have military experience before this war?
TOPOLIA: No, no. All starts from the first day of the war. So we, me with my colleagues, with musicians of band Antytila, we helped our families to get out of Kyiv and then we came to the battle, take helmets and take weapons and start to -- start to protect our country.
GORANI: So you're a member of a rock group.
What -- how have the last --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- how have the last weeks changed you?
You're the front man, absolutely. We told the viewers before coming to you.
How has this changed you, the last four weeks of -- it's traumatic, to see people wounded, dead bodies, this type of thing leaves marks on everybody.
How has it been for you the last two weeks?
TOPOLIA: So let me answer the question and let me explain. So can you imagine that last two days what we're doing is we're preparing for the chemical attack of Russian troops. So we're searching for medicine. And we already got the chemical protection suits.
So it's unbelievable. I can't ever imagine that I will do the things like this. Months ago, it was a civil, peaceful life. We go to the stadiums and our concerts, we plan to release new album and play in new stadium tour.
But in one moment, in one night, everything changed. So it's absolutely different, what it -- it's absolutely a different part of my life now and a year and month before.
GORANI: Yes. Absolutely. Taras Topolia, well, what a change, what a drastic change in your life and lives of millions of others. Thank you for sharing this moment with us.
TOPOLIA: Thank you. I won't --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- lead singer of Antytila, thank you for joining us.
TOPOLIA: Thank you, goodbye.
GORANI: Well, an animal sanctuary is rescuing abandoned pets in Ukraine. You've seen so many pictures of Ukrainian refugees leaving with their cats and dogs, not wanting to leave them behind. They sure love their animals in this country. We'll meet people taking care of the abandoned animals.
[03:40:00]
GORANI: Stay with us.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): -- out of this, (INAUDIBLE) our peoples, and the city of Mariupol alone, which is blocked by Russia, 4,000 (INAUDIBLE).
And now they're also, many women, children and people of advanced age sheltering and all the blocks -- all the rest of the city are blocked. Russian troops do not allow to the city even humanitarian cargo, no food, no water, no medicine. Around the clock, the city is bombed and shelled; 90 percent of all
buildings in Mariupol have been already destroyed. Thousands of people are dead. But Russia, Russia's invasion still remains unchecked.
And I can also remind you that Russia has not been punished for what it has done in our Crimea after it captured it. And in Crimea, Russia's repressions are aimed exactly against the Muslim population of the peninsula.
Over the 31 days of this war, the Russian strikes have damaged at least 59 buildings of -- have damaged at least 59 buildings of --
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GORANI: I'm --
I've lost return.
Is he still -- ?
OK.
All right then.
All right then. We're back. There was connection issue, as you can well see there from your screen, with this speech that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was delivering to a gathered audience -- an audience gathered in Doha, I understand, so we'll try to reconnect with that. Quick break, we'll be right back. Stay with CNN as we continue our coverage.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): -- and other agricultural parties (ph).
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): -- repercussions of the epidemic, from the prior shots (ph), of food, no one is insured against these shots. And you cannot be insured. If there's a physical spot to take a food, Russian troops are covering fields in Ukraine with mines.
They are exploding agrarian equipment. They are destroying our ports. They are destroying all of our resources needed for agriculture.
Why are they doing this?
Our country will have enough food still. But the absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a severe blow to many countries worldwide, to the Muslim world, Latin America and other countries worldwide.
The invader is trying to take back its old privileges and we should not allow the sparsity of food in the world because of this war.
Therefore, the sanctions policy against Russia, all the limitations that have been imposed in this -- against this country are aimed only at ensuring that Russia's hard suing for peace, ensuring that Russia does not pose a threat.
I urge all countries to join us here. Russia has to sue for peace, it has to abandon all attempts to break down global stability and trying to restore the abhorrent habits of those who want to capture colonies and impose inequality.
This is also a question of abandoning the usage of Russian oil and gas. Responsible states, like the state of Qatar, are reliable and solid exporters of energy resources. And they can make their contribution to the civilization in Europe. They can do much to restore justice.
The future of Europe rests with your efforts, it depends on your efforts. I ask you to increase the output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no country can use energy as a weapon and blackmail the world.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): In a week, there starts a sacred month for all Muslims, Ramadan. I do not have to explain to you the momentousness and the importance of this time. All the world reveres this month and has profound respect for it.
But now the Muslims of Ukraine are forced to protect their country and their freedom with arms in their hands in this sacred month. We have to exert even more efforts to ensure that Russia sues for peace.
We have to have an antiwar coalition, do it all together, to ensure that the sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by misery and pain of people in Ukraine and by the devastation of our cities.
We need to do it to give people their possibility to prepare themselves, to brace themselves for the new era and not adapt to the old, abhorrent realities, predatory wars, famine and misery that leads to rebellions.
We have to protect the international order, not only for Ukraine, but starting from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Somalia, for all people around the world. For all people, let there be peace. Glory to Ukraine.
GORANI: All right, there you have it, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, addressing the Doha forum. Some mention there -- and this has been a topic of discussion in the Arab world, by the way, of wheat prices going up and of wheat exports from Ukraine not making it to their final destination in countries in the Middle East and in Africa.
And this could lead to a much, much bigger food crisis than these countries are normally used to or could have to manage in the coming year or so.
And also talking about energy not being used as some form of blackmail, which he accuses Russia of doing in this war. We'll go Lynda Kinkade in Atlanta now. That's it for me in Lviv. Over
to you.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hala Gorani, great work there, stay safe and warm. We'll see you soon.
Some other stories now; looking to North Korea's most recent missile test. After the break, we'll have the latest from the United Nations, as countries come together to condemn Pyongyang's monster missile launch.
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KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Lynda Kinkade, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the rock band Foo Fighters, has died at age of 50. The band says they're devastated by the tragic loss. He played with Foo Fighters for more than two decades, joining in 1997 after the band released their album, "The Color and the Shape."
It's unclear how he died. The band was scheduled to perform in Bogota, Colombia, Friday night. The band says his musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with us forever.
Fifteen countries have condemned North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile on Thursday.
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KINKADE (voice-over): In a statement follows a meeting of the UNSC on Friday where the U.S. argued the launch presents a threat to the entire international community. Richard Roth has the details.
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RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: The United States' ambassador to the U.N. led a pack of U.N. member countries to stand in front of the U.N. Security Council Friday evening, following a day of discussions about North Korea's latest missile launch, an ICBM test.
However, Russia and China were not among the group. They oppose U.S. and Western approaches diplomatically regarding North Korea and its ongoing missile tests.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council at the formal meeting on Friday that the U.S. was going to propose a new resolution, updating and strengthening existing sanctions by the council on North Korea. The ambassador also told her fellow colleagues that the time to act is now.
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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: This launch violated multiple Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to not only the region but to the entire international community.
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ROTH: China and Russia have their own U.N. Security Council resolution prepared. But imminent action is not expected.
The Chinese ambassador told the Security Council in the formal meeting that the U.S. needs to engage in direct political talks with North Korea. The Chinese ambassador, noting the Ukraine situation, said it's time for action on the Korean Peninsula.
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ZHANG JUN, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translator): Right now, all is not quiet on the international front. No party should take any action that would lead to greater tensions and the peninsula cannot afford the risk of any dramatic change, much less a reversal of the situation with dire consequences.
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ROTH: The Security Council deadlock on Ukraine is likely to repeat itself on North Korea --
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ROTH: -- with the big powers disagreeing on whether new sanctions are needed -- Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
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KINKADE: Saudi Arabia has launched an air assault on two cities in Yemen. They hit the port city of Hodeidah and the capital of Sanaa. And the assault comes a day after Houthi rebels claimed they used drones to hit an oil storage facility in Jeddah.
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KINKADE (voice-over): You can see here a massive plume of smoke and flames coming from that facility. The attack came just as Formula 1 fans from around the world headed to the city for this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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KINKADE: I'm Lynda Kinkade. Our breaking news coverage continues in a moment. Stay with CNN.
