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Loud Explosions Rocked Ukraine Capitol of Kyiv; Russian Forces Shell Areas Near Kyiv as Advance Stalls; Putin Could Carve Ukraine in Two as Invasion Stalls; American Mom's 7th Adoption Hindered by War; Republicans Lean into Culture Wars at Supreme Court Hearings; Estonia Women Train as Possible Defense Force; Hollywood Expected to Mark Ukraine War and Historic Wins During Oscars. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 27, 2022 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:30]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is nowhere in this large country that is truly safe from Russia's firepower.

SVIATOSLAV VAKARCHUK, UKRAINIAN ROCK MUSICIAN/POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Everybody is trying to defend our land. United we are and we will win this war no doubt for me. Just the only question is, what will be the price for that?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The parking lot of this Ukrainian superstore has become an unofficial gateway for evacuees fleeing the combat zone.

JOSE ANDRES, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: We are doing around 280,000, 290,000 meals a day.

SEN. JIM RISCH (R-ID): Something is going to have to be done and it's going to have to be significant. One would pray that the Russians would not make what would be a catastrophic mistake.

OKSANA MARKAROVA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Since Putin is increasing these attacks, since Putin is increasing order that is on the ground, killing innocent civilians, we all together have to do more. We have to stop him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Ukrainian forces go on the offense in areas where Russian troops are pulling back but officials worry a frustrated Vladimir Putin may push for a Korea-like divide in Ukraine.

Hello, and thank you so much for joining our continuing special coverage of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon live in Lviv in western Ukraine. As the war in Ukraine crosses into its second month, the battle seems to be entering a different phase now. Ukrainian forces helped by armed civilians are pushing Vladimir Putin's troops back on several fronts. And the Russian military is increasingly turning to missile strikes from here in Lviv to Mykolaiv in the south, in areas north and west of the capital city.

The Russians are digging in but apparently no longer trying to advance in areas where Ukrainian forces have established a delicate hold. But while the military situation is changing, things are getting worse in some areas. Ukraine's president spoke earlier today with a group of independent journalists and talked about the horrific conditions in the city of Mariupol which has been in the crosshairs really of Russian troops from the very start of this war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translator): The reality is this, a city is blocked by the Russian military. All entrances and exits from the city of Mariupol are blocked, the port is mined, a humanitarian catastrophe inside the city is unequivocal because it is impossible to go there with food, medicine and water.

The Russian military is shelling humanitarian convoys, drivers are being killed. What happens to these cargoes, I can't tell you. Many of them were taken back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: President Zelenskyy also claimed that Russian troops have taken 2,000 children out of Mariupol and into Russia. CNN cannot independently verify that claim but a pro-Russian separatist said today that some 1700 people are being evacuated as he calls it into Russia every day from Mariupol and other cities.

Ukraine officials are promising an immediate investigation of a video that has surfaced a disturbing and violent video that reportedly shows Ukrainian soldiers brutalizing Russian prisoners.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is here with me. He joins me with the very latest on that. But we're going to start with the explosion heard in Kyiv. What are we learning? Good evening to you, by the way. What are we learning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Don. Well, we're still trying to piece that together. We've heard from some officials here in Ukraine say that these explosions and attacks have happened in several different places across the country with the extend of the damage exactly what was targeted. If there is any casualties it's information that we just don't have at this point.

LEMON: All right. I want to ask you about the Ukrainian officials here promising an immediate investigation of a video that reportedly shows Ukrainian soldiers brutalizing Russian prisoners. What do we know about that? Is this real? Is it Russian propaganda? What do we know?

LAVANDERA: Well, I think, you know, as all things in war, probably, we're going to need some time to flush it out. But right now, this is a video that shows -- a six-minute video that shows Russian soldiers in the custody of Ukrainian soldiers, and at some point in that video, it shows Ukrainian soldiers shooting some of these Russian prisoners in the leg.

So there are clearly all sorts of questions, you know, surrounding what's going on with that, what kind of investigations will take place but, you know, obviously given what has happened in this country and what Russian soldiers and the Russian army has been accused of here in the last few weeks.

[20:05:08]

You know, this is one of those stories that, you know.

LEMON: Yes.

LAVANDERA: You know, people will try to figure out exactly what it means in the grand scheme of things.

LEMON: As we said Ukrainian officials are investigating. We're investigating. We're not showing the video because again we don't know exactly what it is. But the reports are out there. And if we have the Ukrainian officials confirming that they are investigating, it's worth reporting but not showing the video and we'll continue to check on it.

Ed Lavandera, thank you very much. Appreciate the updates.

LAVANDERA: Good to be with you.

LEMON: Ukrainian forces helped by armed civilians have managed to stymie Russia's advance on the capital at least for now, but with Ukraine still in control of Kyiv, Russia is bombarding the areas around it.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is there with more -- Feed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyiv of course still is very much a city that is on a war footing. People here still do remain very concerned for their safety. However, I do believe that today may have been a little bit more quiet than what we've seen here in the past couple of days, pretty much this entire week. However, we are still hearing those air raid sirens. We're still hearing automatic weapons fire. We're still hearing shelling as well.

A lot of that could be due to the fact that the Ukrainians are saying that they're pressing that counter offensive towards the north of the city. This sort of northwest and the northeast of the city where they say they've gained back some ground from the Russian military but of course, the going up there is still pretty tough for them.

We managed to get up to a village today, to the north of Kyiv. A small town where the people who live there, the few that actually still remain, they tell us that the Russian military really hasn't managed to gain any sort of ground over the past couple of weeks but what they're doing is they are heavily shelling that area. A lot of that of course indiscriminate shelling and it's really unsafe for the people who still remain there.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainian forces they say that they're pretty confident that they're further going to be able to push the Russians back. But their leadership, they understand that these gains that the Ukrainians are making they're still pretty fragile and of course the Russian army has a huge force here outside of Kyiv and does remain very dangerous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. That's Fred Pleitgen reporting. Frederik, thank you very much. We appreciate that.

I want to bring in now Mason Clark. Mason Clark is the lead Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.

Mason, good to have you on. Thanks so much. Let start with this idea suggested by Ukraine's intel chief that Putin could be looking to carve Ukraine into two, like North and South Korea, especially since Russian forces are bogged down around Kyiv. Could you see the war ending like this in a permanent stalemate?

MASON CLARK, LEAD RUSSIA ANALYST, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: Thank you for having me. It's certainly not off the table and it actually has echoes of a Russian plan when they began their invasion of Donbas back in 2014 which is the idea of a (INAUDIBLE), which actually encompass most of southeastern Ukraine and there were a lot of leaked Russian documents and plans by their proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk to actually seize even more territory.

It's certainly possible that this is what the Kremlin will settle for. As you've said, Russian forces are bogging down, though it certainly is not the end of the war and they are trying to reaccumulate combat power. But I do think that it's highly likely that Kremlin has not fully abandoned its more maximalist war goals. The way the Kremlin is pushing this war is trying to as they frame it very incorrectly trying to get rid of this hostile state that's a threat to Russia on its border and they're likely with how much blood and treasure, quite literally, they've invested in this conflict already, going to try and continue to force the entire Ukrainian government to capitulate.

Their initial operations around Kyiv have of course been stymied but I do think they will retain higher end objectives than simply getting the eastern half of the country, as terrible as that would be.

LEMON: According to a U.S. Defense official, the U.S. believes Russian forces are running low on air launch cruise missiles and they may be trying to save its inventory. What does that suggest to you? Does it look like Russia was unprepared for what is happening in Ukraine, that taking them quite a longer time than they thought and they're actually running out of inventory so to speak?

CLARK: Absolutely. We've seen a number of leaks as well as just how the Russians have designed this campaign that they expected to have completed this operation just within a couple of weeks and have been burning through a lot of the higher end munitions such as these precision weapons as well as, you know, ground-based cruise missiles, those used by the Russian navy and other precision weapons. They're quite simply running low on what they'd stockpiled.

However, they may be able to bring those forwards from more rear areas and it certainly doesn't completely diminish the combat power the Russian military. And unfortunately means they're going to rely even more on this indiscriminate shelling such as what we're seeing northwest of Kyiv right now.

LEMON: So I've got to ask you about how long do you think Ukrainian forces and armed civilians realistically, how long can they hold the line and keep cities like Mariupol and Kyiv from falling into Russian hands?

[20:10:06]

CLARK: Yes. That's sort of the key question we're watching right now. It unfortunately varies across the different theaters. Mariupol, Russian forces are making slow but steady progress into the city center. They're continuing to take territory day by day and bomb and shell the city into submission. So Mariupol likely it may be a few weeks but Russian forces are making progress.

In other cities, however, Ukrainian forces have done very well of pushing back on Russian attempts to encircle them particularly around Kyiv and Kharkiv, as well as Chernihiv is the other major city we're watching, and have been able to keep Russian forces out of the city centers and particularly with the deficiencies and supply issues that we're seeing in the Russian forces, it's highly unlikely that they'll be able to fully fight their way into these cities in, you know, largescale urban combat which would require even higher end capabilities than they're already showing. So it's highly likely the Ukrainian forces are going to be able to for the near term at least stalemate these major Russian advances.

LEMON: "The New York Times" has a very interesting piece suggesting that Russia's war in Ukraine could be the end of a relatively peaceful global era. German Lopez writes, and I quote here, "After emerging from the Cold War as the lone super power, the U.S. grew weaker, bogged down by failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Russia and China evolved into more formidable powers. They are now better positioned to challenge a world shaped by American norms and rules."

So I'm interested, in your opinion, is the U.S. weaker and in a worse position now than after the end of the Cold War in 1991?

CLARK: I don't believe so. And also that it's very different in terms of how Russia is of course approaching this situation. Putin has run down a lot of his economy and put aside a number of avenues he could have taken for developing his economy and his global reach in order to preserve his own power and influence, and while yes, this overt Russian invasion of Ukraine is quite a step change in terms of his willingness to use armed force in this way, that may enable other states to do similarly, I don't necessarily think that it's sort of a watershed moment of the U.S. will be unable to push back on these sorts of maligned actions since we've seen of course the U.S. and E.U. and NATO have done a fantastic job of supporting the Ukrainian government and military with aid pushing back on this Russian aggression. And I don't necessary think that it shows that the U.S. is on the whole week certainly not compared it to at the end of the Cold War in 1991.

LEMON: Very informative. Mason Clark, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

CLARK: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: Pamela, the latest from here. More to come.

BROWN: All right. Still ahead on this Sunday night, Don meets some of the youngest victims of Putin's war and a woman trying to get them to safety. Then, Ukraine's largest crypto exchange transforms into a fundraising platform to help the victims of Putin's war.

And ready for action. Hundreds of women, weapons training in Estonia in case the conflict in the region escalates. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:26]

LEMON: It is estimated half of Ukraine's children have been displaced by the fighting. Half of them. And even before the war tens of thousands of Ukrainian children lived as orphans.

I visited one of the country's orphanages and met a woman from Kentucky. She is here she says in Ukraine trying to finalize the adoption of her seventh Ukrainian child. And I met Colleen from Kentucky. Obviously the war has thrown everything into chaos and I spoke with this amazing mom about the harrowing experience her daughter went through to get out of the warzone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Where was Mari? Was she here or was in Donetsk?

COLLEEN HOLT THOMPSON, ADOPTIVE MOTHER FROM KENTUCKY: Mari was in Donetsk. And they evacuated the morning after the war started.

LEMON: Yes. How long was that trip?

THOMPSON: About 48 hours. So they were in a caravan of three small buses, with a police escort, right. The police drove you? From Donetsk to Dnipro.

LEMON: You weren't with her?

THOMPSON: No, I was on Facetime with her. I was still in the States when that happened. And so we were trying to help coordinate evacuations for some of the orphanages initially and it became clear I might be more helpful on the ground here than trying to coordinate from back home. LEMON: Were you nervous? What were you thinking? Were you freaking

out?

THOMPSON: I was freaking out. Oh, yes, I mean, all of us were. They were driving through areas that were having missiles fly over their bus.

LEMON: Yes.

THOMPSON: It's scary. On a daily basis, we are in a bomb shelter and I'm messaging her and yesterday, she spent almost six hours in the bomb shelter and we had missile strikes near both of us and so it's scary enough to have that happen but when you can't physically be there to know your child is OK, and to help protect them, and all the other parents who are some in Poland, a lot back in the U.S., they're getting the same phone calls I'm getting so it's scary.

LEMON: So, and I'll ask you again, limbo. It has just stopped. People are just sort of waiting?

THOMPSON: Yes. So Ukraine issued information that obviously because they're martial law that no adoptions would happen and so we understand that, obviously they're at war and that can't happen so but they have been relocating children out of Ukraine to safety and this group of children and some others are still in Ukraine and all we're saying is let them come to us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So listen, there is a lot more to discuss with the story. You can see the full story from the orphanage coming up on my show tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

And Pam, look, it's a complicated story. You can certainly understand in many ways why they have stopped these adoptions because there is a war going on and there is also the possibility, a big possibility for abuse and, you know, you deal with issues of trafficking and all of that.

[20:20:12]

And all of that needs to be checked out and so we're going to look into what's going on with adoptions here who actually is in control of them if there is actually a complete halt on it, what is going on with paperwork, why the limbo, why the red tape, and if these kids are better off with American families.

BROWN: Right.

LEMON: Why that's not happening? So we're going to check into it.

BROWN: Yes. I'm so glad you're there on the ground checking into that. I've had so many people even reach out to me, viewers of the show, wanting to adopt Ukrainian children. People are just, you know, feel so helpless right now and that is one of the ways they feel like they can help or at least be a foster parent to them and so certainly keep us posted on what you find out there, Don. Thanks so much.

LEMON: And you got to -- Pam, you have to make sure that it's legit, right, because you want them to end up with good homes.

BROWN: Of course.

LEMON: Again, there is a possibility, always a possibility for abuse and you just want to make sure everything is done properly. So we're going to look into it.

BROWN: A hundred percent. And that is the most important thing. For sure.

All right, thanks, Don. We'll be with you soon.

Well, there may be no war that's been more thoroughly documented and witnessed thanks of course to social media and the thousands of Ukrainians who have provided raw unfiltered images of their country under siege. One such person is a former member of parliament and also one of the country's biggest rock stars.

Here she is standing in a bombed out Kharkiv neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAKARCHUK: Nobody is staying behind in this country anymore. Everybody is trying to defend our land. I enlisted to the army as a lieutenant because I had military training in the university, but mostly what I'm doing is going back and forth in the country, meeting people, meeting the troops, meeting people in hospitals, wounded and also the personnel trying to raise the morale.

Actually, I don't need to raise the morale because the morale of Ukrainians is very high. Actually everybody -- well, everybody needs is just generally like mutual support to see each other, to say good words, to stand behind, to stand by others and just to make sure that the whole country is united in fighting against Russians, and united we are and we will win this war no doubt for me. Just the only question is, what will be the price for that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: He compares Kharkiv to London in 1941 when any neighborhood could be destroyed at any time.

Up next on this Sunday night, bracing for a Supreme Court showdown. President Biden's SCOTUS pick facing what might be the closest confirmation vote ever. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:26]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I think this is not about racism, it's about decency. I think that this is not about any kind of partisan effort. There is legitimate questioning that went on by Republicans there but to me it's just about the kind of way we're going to treat folk and I think it's a kind of thing that a lot of folks, women of all races, have had to endure often when they get into a room that they're qualified to be in but are yet questioned in ways that are disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That was Senator Cory Booker this morning on how Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been treated. She endured several days of long and sometimes aggressive questioning from Republicans at her confirmation hearings last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): Can you provide a definition for the word woman?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I want to try to understand here, is it your view that society is too hard on sex offenders?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The attacks seemed unlikely to derail her nomination as the Democrats hold a slim Senate majority. The White House hopes to have Jackson confirmed by early April.

And joining me now is the host of "Speak Easy" on CNN Plus, Cari Champion.

Hi, Cari. Great to have you on the show. I think this is the first time that we've had you on. So nice to see you. Let's get your reaction to some of the topics being brought up. We heard some of it there in that clip. You know, there's CRT, definition of a woman, soft on crime. What is your reaction as you saw those issues being brought up in this confirmation hearing?

CARI CHAMPION, CNN PLUS HOST: You know, as a black woman, the first thing that I think, Pamela, first off, thank you for having me. But the first thing that I think is that this sounds familiar. We've been here before. It was, and I have taken an impromptu poll, it was triggering but what was wonderful, and I'll start with that, was that Judge Jackson has found herself in a room where she can handle her own and that doesn't mean we should leave her to fend for herself but she has displayed such elegance, such confidence, such belief in a country that sometimes doesn't believe in her.

And I learned something from her. I learned that when I'm in a room where I am one of a few or perhaps just the only one that looks like me or has had my own experience that I cannot sit there and turn to anger.

[20:30:02]

What I must do is rise above as she did and speak in such an eloquent way about what she has been called to do and that is interpret the law and she is more than capable. So on this night that I talk to you, I have mixed emotions. I'm very, very happy with whom I see her as our soon to be Supreme Court justice but I'm also sad because it also shows how far we've come in this country and how far we have to go if you watch the Senate hearing.

BROWN: You heard Senator Booker saying these attacks are not about racism rather they're about decency. What did you think about what you heard from him?

CHAMPION: Well, by way of background, I know that there was a collective and I'm not speaking for everyone but there was a collective sigh of relief because we needed to acknowledge who she is and what she's been through, and my goodness, what an excellent woman she is in terms of her patience. And when he spoke for her and stood up for her and stood in that gap, and said, we see you, we honor you, you are amazing, I cried.

Because it felt as if it was someone that was very familiar being attacked for nothing. If you want to question someone about whether or not they read a book, the "1619 Project," or whether or not they believe in CRT, how does that have to do with anything about them interpreting the law? And we understand that Senate hearings are excruciating for anyone who has to go through them when being confirmed.

However, what was happening with her was belittling, and I was so happy to see Senator Booker stand there and say all the things that we said and quote, one of my favorites in Langston Hues. Let America be America, the America that we think it can be, that it hasn't been and that is what we believe, especially as a black woman watching another black woman deal with what she's dealing with.

We want to believe that there is hope and that in fact somebody really wants to root for us and see us in a better space and we were reminded of that when Senator Booker gave his speech.

BROWN: I want to get your reaction, Cari, to what another senator said on the other side of the aisle. Senator Rob Portman talking about those criticisms of how Republicans handled this hearing. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): But I don't think it's wrong to go after her record. I mean, that's what we should be doing in these hearings. With Justice Kavanaugh, I should note, it became personal attacks. By the way, uncorroborated attacks. It was not about his record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think about -- I see you're smiling there, which is why I smiled. Your reaction? CHAMPION: It's convenient, isn't it? It really is. We should be going

after your record. It's not personal attacks. Everything was about personal attacks. She was asked about if she believed kids were racist and what is a woman, and what is -- can you talk about this antiracist book? All of the things that had nothing to do with her record. And as you have seen, as everyone has seen who's followed this very closely, she checks every single box, Pamela.

Every single box. You want to ask me about something I spoke about a few years ago at a university and I quoted some research, what does that have to do with the way in which I will interpret the law? I have been fair. I have a history of recusals if in fact I feel as if I could be compromised. We can't say that about every Supreme Court justice, now can we? She has literally done everything right and yet and still they found something wrong.

Now what message does that send? It says that you don't value what you really say you value. And we know if we look at her record as opposed to others and her resume as opposed to others sitting, no disrespect, head and shoulders. She's at the head of the class. And I'm not just saying that because I feel that's what's happening. I'm saying that because that is the case. Because when you are marginalized and you finally make it to a place in which you're in a room and you're the only one, you have no room to do nothing less but be excellent.

And that is what she is. She displayed excellence in every single way, and incredible restraint, incredible elegance, poise, articulation, all the words that you all -- that they want to use in a world to make her feel small and I stare and I watch her and I'm impressed and yet until they find something wrong with her, Pamela. It's crazy, it's just crazy to me.

BROWN: You're speaking from the heart so much and obviously have so much passion about this issue, Cari. Clearly, you've been thinking a lot about it and as you said, you feel it personally, too.

Before we let you go, we would be remised not to ask you about something regarding sports. Right? You're a former sports reporter so I've got to ask about the NBA's Kyrie Irving saga. Just a short time ago the Brooklyn Nets star returned to the court in New York for the first time this season.

[20:35:01]

He was allowed to play after New York's mayor signed an order exempting athletes from the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. What do you make of this whole episode?

CHAMPION: You know, I -- hey, listen, I think I have mixed emotions as a fan. So I'm going to talk to you as a fan. As a fan, if I lived in New York and Brooklyn was my team, if I lived here, I would want to see my player play no matter what because championships. Right? We usually ask fans fanatical we don't think logically. I do believe that -- and I've said this especially with sports, there are so many of us who are sports journalists who have become interpreters of law, of medical law of what is right and what is wrong. No one can really truly give you a clear answer but what I can say is

that this is about money. And at the end of the day, we want to put fans in the seat and we want to make money and by we, I mean, establishments, institutions. So when we see someone like Kyrie ultimately not giving into the system, he knew at the end of the day that's what it was about, money. Winning championships and he would win.

Same with Novak Djokovic. I wasn't surprised to see that he'd be playing at the French Open. Still status quo. Still the same as he was when he couldn't play at the Australian Open. The reality is, is that we're putting ourselves in a situation to make really tough decisions about athletes and whether or not they should be allowed to play. No one is a doctor. No one can give that -- no one in terms of reporting is a doctor and no one can say, guess what? He needs to do this.

What I do know is that this isn't a matter of what you feel is right, it is a matter of public health, public safety, and so to me, whenever I deal with these questions and whenever I deal with these athletes who are concerned about how they are considered, I ask them not to censure themselves, Pamela. It's not about them. We're still in a pandemic, although we forget because the news cycle has been inundated obviously with the war in Ukraine, but I need people to understand it's not about you.

And so this is the first time I feel in a very long time this country has really had to deal with being a keeper of one another. Meaning that we have to look out for one another whether you want to or not, and the selfish answer is to say I don't want to wear a mask and I don't want to be on the court. I want to do it my way. And that's just simply isn't fair. It just isn't in my opinion.

BROWN: All right. Well, Cari, great to have you on the show. Hope that you're going to be back soon and congratulations on your new CNN Plus show.

We're all counting down to the launch of CNN Plus on Tuesday and you can catch Cari and her show with Jamil Hill called "SPEAK EASY" starting in May. Check out CNNPlus.com for more and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:23]

LEMON: Since Ukraine was brutally, so brutally invaded more than a month ago, hundreds of women and another of Russia's neighbors Estonia have signed up to join a voluntary defense group. They are learning to shoot, navigate and use camouflage just in case hostile forces cross their borders, too.

CNN's Lynda Kinkade has more now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In rural northern Estonia, these women are learning how to prepare for the worst.

KRISTEL ERIKS, WOMEN'S VOLUNTARY DEFENSE ORGANIZATION: If I'm needed, if I need to actually fight, I will fight.

KINKADE: Aged 20 to 60, these are the new recruits of the Women's Voluntary Defense Organization, part of Estonia's state-run paramilitary defense. Since the start of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, membership has soared.

HELEN ALLAS, WOMEN'S VOLUNTARY DEFENSE ORGANIZATION: Already over 500 out of the 2,000 have sent in their application to join the organization.

KINKADE: Estonia is among the Baltic states once controlled by Russia. But since 2004, they've been members of NATO and the European Union. Estonia's prime minister says her country feels no direct military threat from the current Russian-Ukraine conflict. But these women are not convinced.

MERLE VIRNB, WOMEN'S VOLUNTARY DEFENSE ORGANIZATION: I think most of us in Baltic are living right now in frightening situation because it's just not normal what's going on. And we have to prepare, I think. I just can't sit and wait to see if something happens.

KINKADE: After a freezing night spent in self-built tents, these new recruits learn about rifles and bullets, how to apply camouflage, navigate in the woods, and communicate over walkie-talkie, readying to defend themselves and their country against violence they hope never comes.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Hollywood and Ukraine are worlds apart but tonight the entertainment elite are using Oscar night to shine a spotlight on the war. Plus, Chloe Melas has more information on the early award winners, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:48:57]

BROWN: The war in Ukraine is a world away from the glamour of Hollywood but it is not being ignored by stars at tonight's Oscars.

Chloe Melas joins us with more. So fill us in, Chloe.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela. Yes, we are about 48 minutes into the Academy Awards and on the red carpet, you saw many celebrities showing support for Ukraine wearing blue and yellow pins. You saw Jamie Lee Curtis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Samuel L. Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola, Tyler Perry. You know, they're all wearing these ribbons and pins to show their support.

You know, there have been rumblings as to whether or not is President Zelenskyy going to be video conferencing in. You heard Sean Penn on our own CNN air saying that if Zelenskyy doesn't take part tonight that if Ukraine does not have a big moment in tonight's broadcast, that he's going to actually melt his Oscar. So we are waiting for that big tribute. We don't know what is going to happen. But again, we're only like in the first hour of a multi-hour show.

BROWN: That is indeed correct.

[20:50:01]

All right. So even before many Americans had time to settle on their couch, you know, popcorn in hand, tonight's Academy Awards delivered a historic moment. Tell us about that.

MELAS: Yes, it did. Well, we all were hoping and we all were assuming given her streak during award season whether or not Ariana DeBose was going to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and she did for her role as Anita in "Westside Story." This is her first Oscar nomination and win. And the reason that this is just incredibly historic is that she is the first openly queer woman of color to win in this category and even to be nominated in this category.

It's absolutely incredible. She took to the stage. She thanked her mother who was in the audience and some of the things that she said, she said, quote, "Even in this weird world that we live in, dreams do come true." She also said for anyone who has ever questioned their identity, there is indeed a place for us.

I also want to point out, too, that Beyonce she opened the show tonight. It was a big surprise for everyone live from tennis courts in Compton a nod to Venus and Serena Williams where they grew up because Beyonce's song from the movie "King Richard" about their lives is nominated tonight.

BROWN: Wow, that's a big deal.

MELAS: Yes.

BROWN: So before we let you go, we got to ask about Taylor Hawkins because the entertainment industry has been eulogizing his death. The drummer of course for the Foo Fighters is what I'm talking about. What have you heard tonight?

MELAS: So many celebrities have taken to social media to express their sadness, their profound sorrow with his shocking, tragic, untimely death. One of those individuals is Miley Cyrus who dedicated her performance last night in Brazil to him and we have a little clip of what she said very emotionally on the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILEY CYRUS, SINGER: We had to make this emergency landing and the first person that I called was Taylor, because he was already at the festival, and that would have been a time that I would have gone to see my friend and I didn't, so it makes me really sad. But I would have done anything to hang out with him one more time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: So sad. And she is just one of countless people who are just heartbroken right now and so many fans all over the world, Pamela. But in the meantime, we are waiting for the attorney general to release their findings of the official toxicology report. As we've discussed, we have the preliminary toxicology report from a urine analysis that they did where they found 10 substances in Hawkins's system but we're waiting for the official cause of death and more details on the investigation, and again like I've mentioned before, we're just days away from the Grammys when the Foo Fighters, they were supposed to take the stage to perform. So will there be a tribute next weekend?

BROWN: Yes. We'll be waiting to see about that. Just so sad all around.

Chloe Melas, thank you. And we'll be right back.

MELAS: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:50]

BROWN: Families in Mykolaiv have seen their homes reduced to rubble by Russian air raids. Now they're forced to choose, stay and rebuild or try to escape.

LEMON: I was trying to read your part, Pam. It happens.

BROWN: Come on, Don, stop trying to steal my script, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Actually, I think I stole a couple of yours earlier so we're even now.

LEMON: I want to introduce you to Tatiana. This is what's left of her home sadly, just trying to care for her house plants. Take a look at this. The rocket that hit her neighborhood killed two of her neighbors. Their home now nothing more than a hole in the ground, but Tatiana is determined to stay and she wants to help Ukrainian soldiers anyway that she can but others say it's time to get out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TATIANA OLEXANDRVINA, MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): We were already thinking about going to bed. I got up for water and suddenly heard a noise. I dropped the cup and ran to the bathroom and at that moment, everything started to fall apart. I think the shell hit the neighbors and all the doors were knocked out. Our doors and the neighbor's doors flew out hitting us in the corridor.

We will fight until the end as best we can. Some with weapons and some with help with moral support and by transferring funds to our army. Our guys should have everything, helmets and body armor. VIKTOR, MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): A strong

bombardment of our village began yesterday at 9:00. Hailstones and rockets. The houses burned down. We barely escaped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Pam, it's so awful. I mean, many Ukrainians have fled with no more than handbags and rack sacks leaving the rest of their homes behind in memories, and really just rubble. So we want to tell you how you can help at home with the Ukrainian with shelter, food, water, with anything.

Go to CNN.com/impact and we have links to several vetted organizations that are working on the ground to make a difference.

[21:00:00]