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Russian Ground Assault On Kyiv Halted; Officials Estimate 600 Survived Mariupol Theater Attack, 300 Died; Biden To Make Major Address On Ukraine; Warsaw Mayor Pleads For Help With Refugees; U.S. And E.U. Move To Limit Europe's Reliance On Russian Energy; Russia Deployed Infamous Mercenaries; January 6 Committee Debates Calling Ginni Thomas For Questions. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired March 26, 2022 - 04:00 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.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade. I want to get you straight to our breaking news.
As Russia's war in Ukraine enters its fifth week, Moscow's advance on the Ukrainian capital has apparently ground to a halt. Ukrainian forces say they've pushed Russian forces out of a suburb east of Kyiv. And video shows streets littered with damaged and destroyed Russian tanks.
Ukraine's president says Moscow would be better off negotiating an end to the war.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): By restraining Russia's action, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary.
The conversation must be meaningful. Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed. Ukraine's territorial integrity must be ensured; that is, the conditions must be fair. And the Ukrainian people will not accept others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Ukraine now says it has killed more than 16,000 Russian troops over the past month. Russia's military claims it's only a fraction of that, some 1,300 dead, 3,800 wounded.
New video from Mariupol shows the immediate aftermath of a Russian airstrike on a theater 10 days ago. About 1,000 were estimated to be sheltering inside. Local officials estimate 600 people survived the attack and 300 were killed. For more on these developments we have Phil Black in Ukraine and Kevin Liptak is in Poland. I'll start with you, Kevin -- oh, Phil, actually, who's in Lviv.
Good to have you with us, Phil. So we're seeing a major shift in the way Russia is reporting the war in Ukraine. A top Russian general now saying that the first stage of this so-called operation is complete and that the focus is going to turn to the east.
What should we make about this changing narrative we're hearing from Russia?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really hard to say, Lynda. These comments from the top Russian general suggests everything we've seen in the war so far from Russia has been a deliberate diversion, an attempt to distract, divide and weaken Ukraine's forces.
He says Russia has been encircling Ukrainian cities, not because it wants to take them -- although, he says, they may still do -- but the purpose to tie down Ukraine forces so that Russia can focus on what it really wants, which is establishing greater control in the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has recognized the independence of two breakaways, so-called people's republics.
Now this is very different to what governments and experts around the world think Russia has been trying to do here. The common analysis is that Russia thought it could invade this country, conquer this country very quickly, invading across a number of fronts, quickly overwhelming Ukraine's defense and then, very swiftly, also taking the key cities.
Of course the reality has been very different for much of this war so far. Russia's advance has been described as stalled. They're still yet to achieve any obvious key military goal.
So what could all this be about?
It could just be domestic messaging to a Russian audience. It could yet, in itself, be an deliberate action or distraction to Ukraine and its allies or a signal, a recalibration of its own military goals because, if Russia did hope to very quickly invade and control the bulk, if not all of Ukraine, things clearly haven't gone that way.
KINKADE: Yes, they certainly haven't, Phil. And I want to ask you about that attack on the theater in Mariupol; 11 days after that attack, we have now this video emerging, showing people making their escape. And we're learning more details about the number of survivors.
BLACK: Yes, it's taken a long time to get a real sense what happened in that theater on March 16th, when it was hit by some form of Russian weapon, because things in Mariupol are simply so broken down.
There are no police or rescue services. But officials in the city say they have investigated. And what they now believe is there were 900 people sheltering in that theater when it was hit. Remember this is a theater, where people had written very clearly in large Russian letters --
[04:05:00] BLACK: -- the word "children" on two sides of the theater in the hope that would protect them from some sort of attack. We know that didn't happen. And now officials believe some 300 people were killed when the theater or part of that theater was destroyed; 600 survived.
The video shows people covered in dust and debris, very calmly, it would seem, very quietly making their way out of the building still standing. But we also see in the video part of the building hit. And that has simply been blown apart.
It would seem that that particularly event is perhaps one of the deadliest single moments of the war so far. And it's worth remembering why those people were in that theater in first place and that's because Mariupol was under siege. The people there are in desperate, desperate conditions.
KINKADE: Phil Black, some great reporting. Our thanks to you.
I want to bring in Kevin Liptak, who's traveling with President Biden in Poland.
The U.S. President is due to give what the White House is describing as a major address in the coming hours.
What can we expect?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I really think this is a chance for the president to recap his visit to Europe and lay out where he sees this going next, the next phase of the war in Ukraine.
U.S. officials say the war is at a stalemate and, of course, they want to maintain this Western pressure on Vladimir Putin and also reiterate this reassurance and deterrence effort the West is trying to put forth.
And you've seen that in evidence here in Poland yesterday, when the president visited a town in the southeastern part of the country, about 60 miles from the Ukrainian border. As Air Force One was taxiing, you can see the Patriot missile batteries outside the window; trucks provided by the United States in an effort to reassure Poland.
As the president was meeting with members of the 82nd Airborne as well, that was evidence the president has deployed those troops along the eastern flank of NATO. Now today, the president will also meet with refugees here in Warsaw. He's really trying to put a human dimension to this crisis that is ensuing.
Poland has taken in 2.2 million refugees fleeing the violence in Ukraine. The president announced in Brussels the United States would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
But the Polish president has said that the United States needs to do more. It was only about 1.5 weeks ago that he met here in Warsaw with Vice President Kamala Harris. He told her that the United States needed to do more to expedite refugees, who are trying to come to the United States, who have family there. And so we expect that to be a point of discussion between the two men later today. But the president's speech is really sort of the capstone moment of this entire last-minute trip to Europe, a chance for the president to lay down the stakes.
And what you can expect is for him to lay down that overarching frame, autocracies versus democracies, and something he's talked about and it never felt more relevant than right now.
KINKADE: Kevin Liptak, we will check in with you a little later in Warsaw. Thanks very much.
LIPTAK: Sure.
KINKADE: So how much of a difference could Mr. Biden's trip and his upcoming speech make for Ukraine?
For that we're joined by Professor Volodymyr Dubovyk. He teaches international relations at a university in Odessa.
Good to have you with us, Professor.
VOLODYMYR DUBOVYK, ODESSA I. I. MECHNIKOV NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Hello, Lynda, good day.
Sir, you specialize in U.S. foreign policy.
What do you want to hear from President Biden today?
DUBOVYK: I want to reinforce his matters (ph) and promise that the actions to support Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion will be continued. I think the main purpose for this visit to Europe now by Mr. Biden is to reinforce unity within the coalition of countries, the West, so to speak, the collective West vis-a-vis the Russia aggression on Ukraine.
This needs to be sustained because some people maybe expected a quick war. Russia overestimated their capacity and abilities to defeat Ukraine. Ukrainians are doing a good job resisting those aggressions. So the message from Mr. Biden is this is going to be a long war.
So we have to stick together and continue what we're doing, sanctioning Russia, even more so maybe, helping Ukraine financially to sustain for our economy to move forward and for the refugees but also for the amazing huge number of internally displaced persons here.
So there are many fronts for the U.S. and other countries around the world, for the international community for that matter --
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DUBOVYK: -- where they can still continue helping Ukraine. And that is very much appreciated here.
KINKADE: And, Professor, we saw the U.S. President visit troops in a city in the southeast of Poland close to Ukraine's border, highlighting the importance of protecting NATO countries.
What else do you hope to hear from the president in terms of military support for Ukraine?
DUBOVYK: Well, yes, the visit to Poland was extremely important. That's the busiest hub because that's where the weapons supply is flown into Ukraine. And as we know, Russians actually, some days ago, they have threatened to target those convoys with weapons coming into Ukraine.
Of course, I don't think they're there to protect those convoys and territories. For Mr. Biden, I want to hear the support for Ukraine will go on and that's exactly what we'll hear, I suppose.
In terms of what particular weapons will be provided, maybe it's not for public statement because the blur over the episode with jet fighters, MiG fighters in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland, too many spoke publicly and that was a problem. Now I think it's better for those weapons to appear in Ukraine without anyone knowing.
KINKADE: Yes, that is a fair point. I want to ask you about the refugee situation. Poland obviously has -- already has 2 million -- over 2 million refugees. More than 3.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country; no doubt, many more trying to get out.
We know the U.S. intends to take about 100,000 refugees, which obviously pales in comparison to what we're seeing in Europe. And the president has announced already $1 billion in humanitarian aid.
What's going to be needed in the coming months for people fleeing Ukraine?
DUBOVYK: Well, that's the right direction, obviously; maybe a bit delayed, I would say, because people were already piling up and criticizing Mr. Biden for not doing those steps earlier.
KINKADE: All right. I think we're having some issues now with the connection, Professor. We'll leave it there but we really appreciate your time today. Stay safe.
The Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland with what they can carry and with stories of horror from home.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Even if a woman walks out with a white flag and a child, they don't look, they just shoot, kill. They spare no one.
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KINKADE: Coming up, how Europe is helping the millions of people escaping the bloodshed. New video shows the confusion after the Russian bombs slammed into a building holding hundreds of Ukrainians. That video coming up.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
The mayor of Warsaw is pleading for help after his city welcomed 300,000 Ukrainian refugees since the war began. While some plan to go elsewhere, the influx has left public services struggling to cope. The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council met with the mayor and told reporters, all of Europe must bear 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.
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KINKADE: As you can see from this map, most of the refugees from Ukraine have gone to Poland. Ukraine's other neighbors have welcomed less than 1 million people each. Poland is helping more than 2 million refugees.
Well, Germany has taken in 131 Ukrainians, who were in Moldova. German officials call it the start of an air bridge that will take some 14,000 refugees across Europe. And a great majority of those fleeing the fighting are women and children. Our Melissa Bell brings us some of their stories from a Polish border crossing.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a month now, they have arrived day and night at Medyka crossing, mothers and their children carrying little, burdened only by the images of what they've fled.
BELL: Where is this, Chernihiv?
TATYANA ZELENSKA, REFUGEE: Chernihiv.
BELL (voice-over): Tatyana spent more than two weeks getting to Medyka with her niece, nephew and daughter, traveling by day and sheltering in basements at night, in fear of the sound of constant shelling.
But she says, worst of all, the sound of planes at night dropping bombs.
"They drop them on the hospitals where the sick are," she says, "on the bakeries where they make bread so we don't have anything to eat; on the water facilities, so we don't have anything to drink."
DARYA MALEVANCHUK, REFUGEE: The most scared was when the plane --
BELL (voice-over): For Darya as well, it was the sound of the planes at night that scared her the most on her three-day journey from Kharkiv. It was that sound, she says, that forced her and her son from their first underground shelter.
"As a mom," she says, "I was scared. My son handled it better. It's harder for the mother."
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BELL (voice-over): And for a grandmother, perhaps hardest of all. Larissa (ph) and her daughter, Elizabeta (ph), escaped from Irpin more than a week ago.
"A shell hit our house," says Elizabeta (ph). "That's it on the fifth floor. We had a Ukrainian flag hanging on the balcony, so they targeted it."
That was when the family decided to flee, heading from Irpin through other occupied towns like Hostomel and Bucha.
"People can't get out," says Larissa. "It's too dangerous because, even if a woman walks out with a white flag and a child, they don't look. They just shoot, kill. They spare no one. Anyway, we can't go home now," she says, "because there is no home."
So like millions of others, they head into Europe after crossing a border they never wanted to have to cross -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Medyka, Poland.
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KINKADE: We have another example of the brutality in this war.
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KING (voice-over): This video of a theater in Mariupol has recently emerged. The building was being used as a shelter on March 16th, when it was struck by a Russian bomb. You can see debris on the floor and holes in the walls, as people are scrambling to leave.
Local officials estimate some 300 people were killed. Without a functioning police force, an official count isn't possible.
Also French President Emmanuel Macron will talk once again to Russian president Vladimir Putin about humanitarian operations in Mariupol. Mr. Macron plans to demand Russia pause its siege so civilians can leave the city.
Moscow's view on the situation is much different. CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked the Kremlin spokesperson what the strategic goal is in attacking civilian areas like Mariupol.
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DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESPERSON: The strategic goal is to clear up the Mariupol from nationalistic regiments who are there, and in a heavily covered environment. And so -- and, by the way, they're simply not letting people out from the city, from the town.
And this is a problem, because now we're receiving lots of refugees coming from there. And they simply tell us -- they're eyewitnesses. They simply tell us that they were used like a shield. They were used under heavy bombardment. And then those nationalists, they were -- they were killing people who would want to leave the city.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: Why do you think they're fleeing west, they're trying to get out to other parts of Ukraine and to the west, rather than fleeing to Russia, if they feel so safe with you?
Why do you think that's happening?
PESKOV: Part of them is going eastwards. Part of them is going westwards. It's a choice of people. And no one is making any obstacles.
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KINKADE: Well, among those who fled Mariupol is an 18-year-old university student and her parents. She says they barely escaped Mariupol alive, missing a rocket that slammed into the street in front of them.
And contrary to what we just heard from the Kremlin spokesperson, she says it was the Russians who were trying to conceal the truth of what was happening in her city.
Well, this video shows the basement the family lived in, sharing a space for a week with strangers before they finally decided to leave. The father kept his video in his phone, despite demands by Russian soldiers at checkpoints to delete negative content.
His daughter, Maria, whose last name we're not using, spoke to CNN's John Berman from a location outside of Mariupol.
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MARIA, MARIUPOL REFUGEE: I don't think that nobody abroad can understand truly what just happened in my hometown. Like you can't even imagine living in the basement is not the worst thing happening in Mariupol. Like this town turned into a ghost.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: "This town turned into a ghost."
I know there were explosions all around you. In one case there was a shell that hit, what, I think we have pictures?
You have pictures of it hit 30 meters from you.
MARIA: Yes, we have lots of pictures of rockets fell down on the street, in our houses, in our cars on the streets, on the hospitals and the schools and it's actually terrifying. Like the sounds of bomb being just makes your blood stop and boil because of fear and the only thing that you -- that you are thinking about is like how to make out alive of it.
BERMAN: When you were in that basement, how many were you?
And did you think you'd make it out?
MARIA: I can't count the amount of people living here because this basement was like a huge basement and, you know, almost every house has such basements and there are lots and lots of people.
Like I think by that moment nobody is living in their houses. They are just -- they have moved all into basements to save their lives because staying in your home is not safe anymore.
BERMAN: Staying in your home is not safe anymore but also trying it leave can be incredibly dangerous. You managed to get into a car and to try to make your way out of the city. Talk to me about the Russians as you were leaving. They were telling you to delete the pictures on your phones.
What were they saying?
MARIA: You know, the story was like that. We were standing in a huge line to leave the city on a Russian checkpoint.
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MARIA: And I remember the friend of my father came to my car and he said delete everything you can delete.
Delete every photo of the Mariupol -- photos of destruction, photos that agitate for Ukraine. Delete as much provocative messages in your own messages as you can so you don't provoke the soldiers to leave you in the city.
And I remember when we just came to a checkpoint. They literally took our phones and they were scrolling and scrolling to find anything that can provoke them and luckily we deleted almost everything so we could go through a checkpoint.
BERMAN: They didn't want any pictures of what was happening there. You think they wanted to hide the truth?
MARIA: You know, it's -- yes. They just wanted to hide -- to hide the truth, block the truth but these photos cannot be hidden. Somebody catch it on the internet, somebody shares it with their friends and relatives, so these photos are worldwide.
So it's impossible to hide anything because we see it. We live in that condition, so we cannot be just defeated easily. And they cannot tell us that this is our soldiers shooting themselves because we see everything. We are not fools. BERMAN: You are also -- we are not fools. You are living truth, Maria. Your mere presence, your being here with us telling the story tells us everything. And just one more thing. I do understand that even as you left and made it through the Russian checkpoints you felt like the Russians were firing on you as you were leaving.
MARIA: Yes, there's a story of us leaving Russian checkpoints, you know, of who is joining you from the city we have passed maybe six Russian checkpoints. They were like each 30 kilometers. They were checking our baggage, our documents, our phones, et cetera.
And I remember the story when a Russian soldiers -- Russian soldier, after checking our documents, he wished us having a nice trip. And I was very confused by this word -- by these words.
And then 20 minutes after the rockets just began shooting in our spines, on the cars of the civilians, cars where kids were in. And they were just shooting on the civilians leaving Mariupol.
BERMAN: Maria, as I said, thank you for sharing your story. They cannot hide the truth. They cannot hide these stories. People like you who I know you were a colleague student home on break basically and then this is what you had to live through.
We're so glad that you and your family made it out safely. We wish you the best. Please let us know if there's anything we can do.
MARIA: Unfortunately, you cannot help Mariupol now. The only thing you can help is people going on protest and educate to close the sky in the Ukraine because the main weapon of Russian soldiers are rockets and bombs dropping from the sky.
You know, a week ago they dropped a huge bomb on the drama theatre in the center of the city and there were lots and lots of people hiding here. And today our government said that nearly 300 of people are dead, buried alive in the drama theatre.
BERMAN: Three hundred people killed in that theatre and we've seen some of the pictures for the first time and it's devastating. Maria, thank you for being with us. Please stay safe. Be well.
MARIA: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a new law that outlaws the dissemination of false information. That's according to a state news agency. It broadens an earlier censorship law that made it a crime to spread so-called fake news.
Officials say it also targets the public discrediting of Russian government agencies working abroad. The censorship law, introduced shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, is part of a media crackdown that has forced some news outlets to close and journalists leave the country. Penalties include up to 15 years of prison and fines up to $14,000. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Lynda Kinkade. For our
international viewers, "NEW FRONTIERS" is coming up next. For those in North America, we're back with more breaking news from Ukraine after a very short break. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and Canada. I'm Lynda Kinkade and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Moments ago, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appeal to energy producing companies to increase energy and gas output to decrease what he calls "Russian blackmail."
President Biden will be concluding his visit to Europe with what he calls a major address.
A top Russian general claims the first stage of the invasion is complete and efforts will now focus on Eastern Ukraine in, quote, "the liberation of the Donbas."
The Ukrainian president says his country's forces have dealt powerful blows to Russia this week. He says the counter attack on the southern port is more proof Russian forces will be met with resistance everywhere.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I am grateful to our defenders, who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them, even when there is no storm, because there will be fires and on those Russian ships that departed this week on the famous route from the port of Berdyansk.
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KINKADE: A senior U.S. Defense official says Russian forces around Kyiv are in defensive positions and that all ground movements toward the capital have stopped. The Ukrainians aren't letting their ground down. Our Frederik Pleitgen shows us how the capital is preparing for what comes next.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is still very much on a war footing. We're right in the city center. And as you can see, there's a tank barrier that was set up here with sandbags, obviously a defensive position.
And this is something that you really see throughout the entire city with a lot of checkpoints, a lot of soldiers on the ground, defense forces there as well.
And just to give you an idea, we are literally in the city center. Over there, you see the Maidan, of course, right in the middle of the Ukrainian capital.
At the same time, though, you do get the sense here right now that the people here have a little more room to breathe and they feel a little more secure because of some of the gains that the Ukrainian forces have been making.
For instance, at a checkpoint like this one, you do see a lot more vehicle traffic than, for instance, we have been seeing over the past couple of days. There's more cars going through here.
Nevertheless, of course, the situation still remains very dangerous, with Russians saying that they hit a fuel depot just south of the Ukrainian capital. And in general, of course, fighting still going on, not very far from where we are.
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KINKADE: Our thanks to Frederik Pleitgen reporting from Kyiv.
The U.S. is stepping in to help Europe wean itself off its dependence on Russian oil and gas. U.S. President Joe Biden says Moscow is using those exports to bankroll its invasion of Ukraine. But ending the E.U.'s alliance on Russian energy is no easy task because 40 percent of its gas comes from Russia, 27 percent of its oil.
Nic Robertson looks at how Washington plans to cut those numbers dramatically.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Biden's last big announcement before leaving Brussels, that he will help the European Union switch away from Russian energy supplies.
President Biden came to Brussels looking for unity, hoping to encourage more sanctions from European Union leaders. They've been very concerned about sanctioning Russian oil and gas because the prices of energy are going up in Europe.
And that's inflicting pain on many of the countries here. The Greek prime minister outlining what it means for him.
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KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER: We are all already paying a price. I think we certainly all need to reassess our growth forecasts. We're faced with significant inflationary pressures as a result of the war. And energy costs are really hurting and they're hurting our citizens.
But at the end of the day, as much as we have an allegiance to support Ukraine, we also have an allegiance to our citizens to make sure that they do not suffer more than they can actually bear.
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ROBERTSON: So President Biden saying he will strive to ensure the United States provides a European Union with 15 billion cubic meters of LNG, liquefied natural gas, to help replace that gas they're currently getting from Russia.
The aim would be to replace two-thirds of the gas that the E.U. gets from Russia by the end of the year. President Biden saying that money that goes from the E.U. to buy that Russian gas is fueling President Putin's war in Ukraine.
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BIDEN: We're coming together to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy. Putin has issued Russia's energy resources to coerce and manipulate its neighbors. That's how he's used it. He's used the profits to drive his war machine.
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ROBERTSON: But even after President Biden left Brussels, European Union leaders still in hot debate about the energy issue here, nations like Greece looking for a price cap on the cost of energy.
Big concerns here; their outflow, outfall of the war in Ukraine impacting the European Union, not just energy costs but all the refugees as well. Big debates here still going on at the E.U. -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Brussels.
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KINKADE: Let's talk more about U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming speech. Joining me now is David Herszenhorn, the chief Brussels correspondent for "Politico."
Good to have you with us, David.
DAVID HERSZENHORN, CHIEF BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Great to be with you.
KINKADE: So we saw the U.S. President in Poland near the border, addressing U.S. troops, saying democracy is at stake when it comes to Russia's war in Ukraine. He's due to give this speech later today. The White House says it's going to be a significant speech highlighting why the West needs to stick together.
What can we expect, do you think?
HERSZENHORN: Well, this is really an extraordinary moment, Lynda. We went through an amazing week in Brussels. We've never had a day like Thursday, where NATO leaders, the G7 leaders and European Council leaders, 27 heads of state and government, were all holding summits on the same day.
When you cover these leaders as I do every day, you see how exhausted they are, how bleary-eyed they are. War has returned to the continent in Europe. And they're confronting, as I wrote about in "Politico" on Wednesday, the failure of the post-world war to security systems.
The U.N. promised to save people from the scourge of war. So Biden has this moment, where he's really confronted with the weight of history on his shoulders, war in Europe in the 21st century and how America and its allies respond.
KINKADE: I mean, it's so hard to believe that we're over a month into this war in Ukraine, when months ago, so many thought it wouldn't happen, certainly not to this extent.
Looking at that flurry of diplomatic talks there we've seen over the last few days, as you mentioned NATO, G7, European Council, where are these leaders failing when it comes to diplomacy and deterrence?
HERSZENHORN: Of course they've been powerless to stop Vladimir Putin. And war is a moment that requires bravery. You've seen Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, a comedian and actor by profession, rise to occasion, becoming a master wartime communicator.
At President Biden's press conference at NATO headquarters, where I was on Thursday, he talked about how he is and still believes himself to be the leader of the free world. But after Afghanistan, after Iraq, after the tumultuous years of Donald Trump, there's a real question about whether that job even exists anymore.
And if it does, does it still sit in Washington?
So that's the burden he faces today, of proving America is still leading, at a time when, of course, U.S. officials have wanted to stay out of direct conflict with Russia. They believe that would only make things worse, so rejecting calls for a no-fly zone.
Some of the responses are perceived differently in Europe and especially Ukraine than they are back home. It might seem generous to Americans to offer help to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
But millions, more than 3 million have already crossed out of the country; 7 million more displaced. That seems pretty paltry to the Ukrainians, who say, look, we don't need a ride; they need weapons, they need money, they'd like the U.S. to close the skies.
So really this historic tension here, over what America feels it can do, as the leader of the Western alliance, and what it's actually been able to do on the ground because, as you just saw in Mariupol, the destruction is just devastating.
KINKADE: Yes, it really is. David, I would love to have more time with you but I've got to leave it there for now. Good to have you with us from "Politico." Thanks so much.
Ukraine accuses Russia of deploying an infamous mercenary group as part of its invasion. Independent researchers say Wagner mercenaries are guns for hire, who do the Kremlin's dirty work but provide plausible deniability.
As David McKenzie reports, Ukraine says the mercenaries have been sent there on a specific mission. I have to warn you: some of the images in this report are graphic.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Russian mercenary takes a selfie video in Syria. It's a recruitment- styled pitch --
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): -- allegedly for the notorious Wagner Group, a brutal force believed to be linked to the Kremlin.
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): In the shadows of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian defense official tells us that Wagner contractors were in the country and had a very specific mission.
MCKENZIE: What is the objective, do you think, in Ukraine, right now?
MARKIYAN LUBKIVSKY, ADVISER TO THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE: They wanted to assassinate the leadership of Ukraine, our president and prime minister. So that was the goal. And a couple of groups, couple of people, were sent to Ukraine, without any success.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I am here. We are not putting down arms.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The primary target, he says, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine's military says documentary evidence gathered by intelligence officials and special forces outlines their alleged mission. He says several Wagner operatives have been eliminated, identified by their unique dog tags. CNN couldn't independently corroborate the account.
LUBKIVSKY: We need to find all these people and they need to go to the court. They're absolutely illegal.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Wagner contractors surfaced in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, exposed by research groups and CNN investigations. Their operations span the Middle East and Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language). MCKENZIE (voice-over): U.S. officials accuse Wagner of multiple human rights abuses in multiple countries.
In this disturbing 2017 video investigated by CNN, Wagner mercenaries appear to be torturing and murdering a Syrian man as they make jokes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The Kremlin said the incident had nothing to do with the Russian military operations in Syria. And they've repeatedly denied any links to Wagner.
U.S. officials say that Wagner was started by this man, Dmitry Utkin, a veteran of the Chechen conflict and allegedly bankrolled by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch so close to Russia's leader, he's nicknamed Putin's chef. Under multiple U.S. sanctions, Prigozhin denies any involvement in Wagner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want blood. They want to fight.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): But this senior researcher at the Dossier Center says Wagner is Putin's private army. We agreed to hide their identity for their safety. They've spent years investigating Wagner's links to the Kremlin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They operate without any law, without any rules. They can do whatever in a way, whatever they want. Then, when there is a call to MOD or there is a call to Mr. Putin, "What your guys are doing in this particular country?" the response will be, "These are individuals. They have no link to the Kremlin."
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Despite the invasion and new allegations of an assassination plot, Ukraine's president says he isn't going anywhere -- David McKenzie, CNN, London.
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KINKADE: Still to come, the latest on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson and why newly pledged support from a Democratic senator is so vital.
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KINKADE: Well, Democratic senator Joe Manchin says he will vote for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Manchin is a key swing vote in the U.S. Senate and his decision all but ensures Jackson will become the first Black female Supreme Court justice.
Democratic senator and chair of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, says he's hopeful Jackson will receive bipartisan support. In other news from the Capitol, members of the January 6th committee are debating bringing Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, before the panel for questions. The committee now has access to text messages between her and Trump's former chief of staff. Ryan Nobles has the latest.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The January 6th select committee now figuring out what to do with this trove of emails they have between the wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
As we reported this week, the committee has 29 text messages between the pair, where Ginni Thomas implores upon Meadows to do everything he can to try to prevent the certification of the election results and allow Joe Biden to become the next President of the United States.
It's unclear what this has to do with their investigation of what led to the events of January 6th, whether or not Thomas played any direct role in the planning of events leading up to that day.
So the committee is trying to decide whether or not it's even worth it to bring her in front of the panel to answer questions, especially because, if they do, it would create somewhat of a sideshow because she's such a prominent conservative activist and, of course, her direct relationship with a sitting Supreme Court member.
Now there has been fallout as it relates to Clarence Thomas. Oregon senator Ron Wyden suggesting, going forward, Thomas should recuse himself for anything related to January 6th that could come before Supreme Court.
But Thomas is getting some support from Republican members. The House minority leader Kevin McCarthy saying he doesn't believe Thomas has done anything wrong and he has no reason to recuse himself unless he believes it would be appropriate -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
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KINKADE: Some sad news for rock music fans. Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the rock band the Foo Fighters has died at age of 50. The band says they're devastated by the tragic loss. Hawkins played with the Foo Fighters more than two decades, joining in 1997 after they released the album, "The Color and the Shape." It's unclear how he died. The band was scheduled to play in Bogota, Colombia. The band says, "His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever."
We'll be right back.
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KINKADE (voice-over): How beautiful. The Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra performing for the first time Friday since Russian forces invaded Ukraine. In the foreground, you can see boxes of medical supplies for Ukrainians in need.
The orchestra invited musicians who had fled from other parts of Ukraine to join the performance. But at one point an air raid siren forced the musicians to leave the stage for a shelter. But they eventually returned.
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KINKADE: Well, a sanctuary in Lviv is taking in some special refugees, beloved pets, left behind in the war.
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HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): These animals were never supposed to be here, dogs of all sizes, cats; some calm, others a bit mouthier. In what used to be a playroom for a few resident cats, these domestic animals are all here because of Russia's war on Ukraine.
This place was almost exclusively an exotic animal sanctuary but is now pitching in to help welcome pets abandoned in conflict zones.
NAZAR DULYSH, CO-FOUNDER, HOME OF RESCUED ANIMALS SANCTUARY (from captions): We are here at the sanctuary for wild animals. We never dealt with dogs. The pace of adoptions is unbelievable.
GORANI (voice-over): On a sunny Sunday afternoon in the western city of Lviv, there are still a few parents bringing their kids to see foxes, a few exotic birds, a couple of rabbits and a monkey.
Among them are new arrivals, like this eagle, once used as a tourist attraction in the eastern city of Kharkiv, and a couple of wolves, brought in from a private zoo near the front lines.
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GORANI (voice-over): In the middle, a literal mountain of donated pet food, some sent from as far away as Sweden and Spain. Locals, like this Lviv resident, sometimes drop off a single bag to help any way they can.
The workers here are mostly volunteers. Occasionally, they look after the pets of families forced to flee, like these two beagles, Kiki and Riki.
In the last few months, one thing has been clear: Ukrainians love their pets. Images of the displaced carrying their cats and dogs to safety have made the news around the world. Here at the Home of Rescued Animals Sanctuary, I bond with one
particular quiet female dog, still apparently willing to trust a human's touch.
Shortly afterward, a charity picks up the newly arrived pets, loads them onto vans and drives them west to Poland, to a new life and, hopefully, to new caring owners. In the chaos, it's the best anyone can hope for.
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KINKADE: Well, that was our Hala Gorani reporting.
And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. You're watching CNN.
