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Russian Forces Slowly Pulling out of Northern Ukraine; Thousands of Civilians Trapped in Mariupol; Ukraine Won't Confirm or Deny Attack on Russian Fuel Depot; "Impossible" to Determine Russian Exposure to Radiation at Chernobyl; China Takes Diplomatic Heat from E.U. at Virtual Summit; Bucha Streets Littered with Bodies; Odessa Tries to Hold on to Normalcy amid War; Academy Accepts Will Smith's Resignation. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 02, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, live in Lviv, Ukraine.
With the Russian offensive on Ukraine not only stalled well into its second month, Ukrainian forces are now retaking territory lost in the early days of the invasion. The Kremlin has indicated its main goal is now control of the Donbas region in the east. And Russian troops are notably being redeployed from northern Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The occupiers are withdrawing forces in the north of our country. The withdrawal is slow but noticeable. Somewhere, they are expelled with battles. Somewhere, they leave positions on their own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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VAUSE (voice-over): Satellite images show Russian armor and artillery have abandoned the Antonov airbase near Kyiv. The airfield was captured on the first day of the invasion and Russian forces were well dug in.
It's unclear where they went and now to some disturbing video a few miles south of the airbase. Ukrainian forces report retaking the town of Bucha. Images show widespread damage from shelling and dead bodies left in the street.
Across the border in Russia, Ukraine will neither confirm nor deny it attacked a large fuel depot in the city of Belgorod. Russia says two Ukraine helicopters flying at low altitude struck the facility early Friday, causing a massive fire. And the U.S. has announced another $300 million in military assistance
for Ukraine, including so-called suicide drones and night vision equipment. CNN's Alex Marquardt has the very latest now from across Ukraine.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): With Ukrainian forces taking back territory, putting Russia on the back foot, questions over whether they have gone on the offensive inside Russia.
The Kremlin now accusing Ukrainian helicopters of striking a fuel depot just across the border in Russian territory. Moscow calling the alleged attack "an escalation," while Ukraine is refusing to say whether they were involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I saw the video but the quality is insufficient for me to identify whether it was Ukrainian helicopters or not.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): The lack of denial, suspicious; but U.S. intelligence has long warned of potential so-called false-flag operations by Russia to give them an excuse to escalate their offensive in Ukraine.
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BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMETT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Let's be very clear, this could be a false flag operation on the part of Vladimir Putin. This is not beyond the type of operations that we've seen come out of Vladimir Putin in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Despite Russian claims of shifting their focus to the eastern part of the country, northern Ukraine is still being targeted. Officials in the northern city of Chernihiv reporting new strikes on a hospital and a lack of daily essentials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no electricity, no water. The Russian forces just shelled a local regional hospital.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): But it is to the east, NATO officials believe, that Russia plans to step up their efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: What they call deescalation, I call repositioning.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): Thousands of civilians are still trying to flee the southern port city of Mariupol. The Russian shells and constant fighting making it near impossible for people to get out; some buses managed to.
CNN was there as they arrived in safer Zaporizhzhya, big red crosses on the sides to indicate they are civilians; wide smiles from those who managed to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DMYTRO GURIN, UKRAINIAN MP: We still have 160,000 people in Mariupol that are not safe. And that's a real problem, because all of the humanitarian corridors that Russia simulating (ph), it's -- in general, it's all -- its fake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT (voice-over): While Ukraine fights for survival, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has removed two top generals, who he called anti-heroes, who, quote, "have not decided where their homeland is."
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually, they will all be punished.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In the coming hours, the convoy of buses will again try to reach the besieged city of Mariupol to evacuate civilians, who have endured weeks of a brutal Russian military assault.
An estimated 100,000 people are still trapped there. While Moscow agreed to open humanitarian corridors, local officials say Russian troops have blocked aid supplies from reaching the city.
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VAUSE: One official accuses the occupying Russian forces of taking 14 tons of military aid down from Mariupol. On Friday, a convoy of buses, organized by the Red Cross, was denied access to the city, preventing thousands from evacuating.
Those lucky enough to leave, though, made their way to Berdyansk, where, from there, they have boarded buses bound for Zaporizhzhya and Ukrainian-controlled territory. While they may now be safe, their future remains uncertain. Ivan Watson was at a refugee center when the buses arrived. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The buses have finally arrived from the Russian occupied city of Berdyansk. It's supposed to be a 2.5-hour drive and we were told they left around noon, local time.
It was around noon, local time, and they have come in at just before 11:00 pm. And these buses have red crosses on them and there are dozens and dozens and dozens coming behind them. And they are pulling into this parking lot.
It's all rather dark because the city's blacked out to protect it from the threat of airstrikes and so on. And people here are piled in and exhausted. This has been close to a 12-hour journey, for people who were already trying to flee the besieged city of Mariupol.
So people have already had to endure bombing and weeks without -- weeks without electricity and a connection to the outside world, cell phone signals. And they're finally here, reaching a Ukrainian controlled piece of territory.
But it has been an incredible ordeal to try to help these people. You can just see kind of exhaustion here if you take a look at some of the faces of folks. These are people who didn't have cars to make their own escape. They were waiting for this kind of transport.
Everybody has been forced to leave their homes. Many of the people who arrived earlier today with their own cars said that their homes were destroyed by Russian artillery, by Russian airstrikes.
I saw people bruised and bashed up as a result of surviving explosions and blasts. There are estimated to be more than 100,000 civilians still in Mariupol. The International Committee of the Red Cross, they were trying to reach those people.
And they publicly announced that their convoy -- just kind of five vehicles -- or three vehicles, nine people -- were not allowed in to the city. And Russia controls the entrance because it encircles it with its troops.
So here you have people coming in, after just an incredibly long day. And what happens is they are brought in by Ukrainian police and then Ukrainian volunteers, who register people, they check their documents.
And then, they're welcomed into a superstore that the city government and volunteers -- they've organized medics, hot meals, clothes for free if they weren't able to get out with their clothes in time and, then, further information about where to go from here, with free transport.
Because then again, everybody -- a lot of these people -- this is all they have left, a bag, a suitcase perhaps and, if they're lucky, their family members with them. So this is a major evacuation.
There are estimates of at least 2,000 people on some 52 buses that have finally made it through many, many Russian checkpoints to Ukrainian controlled territory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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VAUSE: With us now from Los Angeles is Robert English, director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Southern California.
Robert, thank you for being with us. The Kremlin has made it known, its main goal now is to gain complete control of the Donbas region. And the general secretary of NATO put that into perspective. Here he is.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: We all have to realize that, at the beginning, their aim was to take both Kyiv and Donbas. Then they have not been successful in neither taking Donbas nor Kyiv.
And then, because they have met much stronger Ukrainian resistance than they expected, and then they are now changing, regrouping. But this is not a withdrawal.
It is actually just another way to wage war and we see that the shelling continues and we see that the, you know, suffering continues. So the war continues. It's not the real withdrawal from the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So the Donbas is an industrial region in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian military since 2014.
So if this region falls under Russian control, big picture here, what does Putin actually win?
ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Putin wins a corridor from the Crimean territory that he took back in 2014 along the Black Sea coast, connecting it with the Donbas in the east, so this large strip of Ukrainian territory from the southeast to the east, adjacent to Russia, something that strategically could be defensible
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ENGLISH: And it's a much smaller piece of Ukrainian territory, of course, than he wanted originally. So he gets a small gain but nothing like the total conquest he was seeking at the outset.
VAUSE: So the ICRC tried to reach Mariupol with a convoy of buses to evacuate, you know, 100,000 people who are still there. Putin himself agreed to that humanitarian corridor at the request of the leaders of France and Germany.
But the convoy was then denied access by the Russian forces.
So why agree to these humanitarian corridors time and time again that prevent anyone from leaving?
What's to be gained?
ENGLISH: You know, John, many have compared Putin to Hitler and the Russian attack to the brutality of the Nazis in World War II. And I think we are seeing another parallel here.
Even when the Nazis were being pushed back out of the Soviet Union, across Europe by the allies from the West, they did horrific damage in making that retreat as painful and as damaging as possible for their opponents.
Well, Putin's doing something like that here. He is inflicting maximum damage with missiles and airstrikes and artillery in places where he cannot take territory and has no hope of conquest just to make it as painful as he can and perhaps to get maximum concessions at the bargaining table. It is brutal.
VAUSE: Well, humanitarian corridors were agreed to during those so- called peace talks, which obviously they are ongoing. But I want you to listen to the German minister on those talks. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Putin is saying every other day that he is having, as he is calling it, peace negotiations but on the same moment, he is bombing Mariupol, he is bombing so- called humanitarian corridors. He's not allowing medicine and food inside the cities, which is obviously a violation of humanitarian law. So it's war crimes.
So you cannot say on the one hand that you are having so-called peace negotiations and on the other hand, you are bombing hospitals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Very much to your point, is there anything in these talks for the Ukrainians which make it worth continuing?
ENGLISH: Only that the alternative is even worse.
Right?
So as difficult as it is to contemplate a deal with the devil and any kind of settlement that would reward Putin with territorial gains, the Ukrainian country is being destroyed. People are dying in the hundreds, so halting that damage and giving a chance to regroup, maybe take it back later after a period of time.
Who knows?
It's simply to stanch the bleeding, which is on the edge of fatal for Ukraine now. It's the least awful alternative.
VAUSE: It does feel as if we are coming to a turning point in this conflict, with the Russians now focusing on the east, the Ukrainians trying to take back territory in the northern part of Ukraine. And it does feel like there could be, you know, maybe the beginning of the end here.
How do you see it?
ENGLISH: I see the same thing. It's just unfortunate that it's going to take so long. And, in some ways, it gets worse before it gets better, that Putin will do what we've been talking about, lash out, inflict pain and suffering simply to inflict pain and suffering and induce the Ukrainians to make more concessions to halt this bleeding.
That's the way vicious wars end. We call them peace talks but we wouldn't need peace talks if somebody hadn't made war first. And there is no clean ending.
In other words, the expectation that, as the Russians accepted the defeat of their big strategic plan, we hope that would mean a quick and easy settlement, that Putin would see the light and call a halt to this brutality and -- and maybe have some concern for the future of his country, isolated, sanctioned, a pariah state for decades.
But he hasn't. He just wants as much territory as he can get, even if it means senseless killing.
VAUSE: Well, very quickly, the Russians have claimed that two Ukrainian helicopters crossed into Russian territory, destroyed a fuel storage site just across the border. Ukrainians will neither confirm nor deny that attack.
But assuming the attack was carried out by the Ukrainian forces, how much extra pressure does that now add to Russia's problems of resupplying and refueling?
And also, what is the message that sends to Moscow?
ENGLISH: Well, the message is that we're not defeated yet and you may be repositioning the forces from Kyiv, from Kharkiv in the north, back down to the southeast to try to consolidate the Donbas. But we will make that movement. We will ambush.
Right?
We will trap them. We will strike even into Russian territory.
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ENGLISH: And we will use those drones even more than the anti-tank weapons. We will use those drones that America's providing us to make your life a hell.
And if you think that you will trap our troops in the east and walk all over us in the Donbas, you might have another think coming. The Ukrainians might have more surprises in store for the Russians to counteract the barbarity of Putin's tactics. We have to wait and see there. VAUSE: They have had a few -- they have had a few surprises already,
Robert. So a few more in store. Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
ENGLISH: You're welcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We will take a short break. When we come back, an alarming warning from the head of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant about what Russian troops may have been exposed to. More on that when we come back.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. An update now from the director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who says it's impossible to determine the level of radiation Russian troops were exposed to while occupying the plant.
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VAUSE: In a Telegram message, he said troops may have received significant exposure while digging trenches but (INAUDIBLE) remain unclear. The director of Ukraine's nuclear facilities also confirmed that Russian forces have now withdrawn from the plant and the territory surrounding it.
Later, the U.N. nuclear watchdog says what is happening around Ukraine's nuclear power plants, all of them, is dangerous, uncharted territory. Rafael Grossi just came back from a trip to Ukraine and Russia. CNN's Becky Anderson asked him about his concerns that nuclear sites could come under fire yet again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: I think that the preserving the physical integrity of a nuclear power plant is of the essence.
I think that the deployment of the IAEA, the presence of the IAEA, the intensity of our work and our attention on this is helpful in averting such a scenario, which is the worst that you could have, you're describing an attack on a nuclear reactor, which is, I think, not a very probable scenario.
But there are other issues that we have been looking at and must be looking at, namely the possibility of a nuclear accident, which is something different.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Sure. Let me just let me just put this question to you.
Are you in touch with Russian authorities?
And is there any evidence that Russia, in its strikes in Ukraine, will ensure that it doesn't target nuclear facilities?
Do you have any confidence that that is the case?
GROSSI: Well, there are many questions to your question. Of course, I am in touch with them. I must be; otherwise, there's no efficiency or effectiveness in whatever I do. So in fact, on my way back to Vienna, I stopped in Kaliningrad, which is in Russia.
And then in Kaliningrad, I had meetings with the Russian side to also discuss about these things. Any attack to a nuclear facility is against international law. I think everybody, including Russia, is very clear about it.
And trust or not -- or not trust is something that is, of course, very subjective. What I can tell you is that we will continue working, no matter what; we are going to be putting everything possible to prevent that occurrence.
ANDERSON: Right. Let me be quite clear.
Do you trust that Russian authorities that Vladimir Putin, his military will avoid targeting nuclear facilities?
Do you trust them?
GROSSI: Nuclear facilities have not been targeted. We had an event, which was quite concerning, when, within the sight of a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, there was an exchange of fire. That was probably shelling not directed at the reactor but involving an administrative building nearby.
So I cannot conceive, I could not imagine that a nuclear reactor would be targeted. The Russian government has affirmed this. And I hope that this will be the case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Grossi says, as of next week, his agency will be working closely with Ukraine to preserve the safety of all nuclear sites, including Chernobyl.
Well, Russia is pushing for more trade with India as it looks for a lifeline from those crushing international sanctions. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was in New Delhi Friday, meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi and other officials.
Lavrov later said Russia is ready to sell India whatever it wants to buy. He also said the two countries will increase the use of their own currencies to trade. And during a round of meetings, Lavrov thanked India for what he described as seeing the full picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: This day, our Western colleagues would like to reduce any meaningful international issue to the crisis in Ukraine. You know our position. We do not fight anything and we appreciate that India is taking the situation in the entirety, not just in a one-sided way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Before his trip to India, Lavrov visited China. Both India and China are refusing to directly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Precisely because of that stance, China took heat from the E.U. during a virtual summit on Friday.
After the talks, E.U. leaders said China cannot look the other way while Russia violates international law. The head of the European Commission said she had an open and frank exchange with China's president.
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VAUSE: Her message on sanctions was this: if you are not part of the solution, don't be part of the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We expect China, as a member of the Security Council of the United Nations, to take its responsibilities. There are few members only and they have a vast responsibility.
And China has an influence on Russia and, therefore, we expect China to take its responsibility to end this war and to come back -- that Russia comes back to a peaceful negotiations solution.
We expect China, if not supporting the sanctions, at least to do everything not to interfere in any kind. Also on that point we were very clear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Von der Leyen also told China that no European would understand any support for Russia's war effort.
I'm John Vause. Our international viewers, stay tuned; "INSIDE AFRICA" is up next. For everyone else, please stay with us. Our ongoing coverage of Putin's war of choice continues after a short break.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause, live in Lviv, Ukraine. There is more evidence that Russian troops are pulling back from some
areas around the Ukrainian capital. New satellite images show troops around the Antonov airport just outside Kyiv have pretty much disappeared.
Earlier, images showed military vehicles, artillery positions, protective berms dug into the ground. Now just the berms are there. Ukraine's president says Russian troops are slowly moving out of northern Ukraine.
There is new disturbing images, though, from a town of Bucharest, just also near Kyiv. It shows a number of bodies along the roadway, including one person who appears to have been on a bicycle.
These images were taken on Friday and are being geolocated by CNN to be from Bucha. It is unclear from the video whether the bodies are civilians or whether they're soldiers from the Russian military or Ukrainians. It's a number of towns that Ukrainian forces have retaken in recent days from the Russians.
To the east, a fuel depot in Belgorod over the border in Russia was also attacked Friday. Russia says two Ukrainian helicopters carried out the attack. Ukraine has not taken responsibility. Here is what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said when asked if he ordered the strike himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I do not discuss any of my orders as commander in chief, the leader of this state. You need to understand that, on that territory that you mentioned, you have to know that they were placing their shooting systems and firing those missiles themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: At least three missiles hit the southern port city of Odessa on Friday. The regional military governor says they were launched from Russian annexed Crimea and they caused injuries. This comes as the city tries to maintain a sense of normalcy while knowing war is coming. CNN's Ed Lavandera is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Knizhka market is where you come to trade gossip and rumors, for Ukrainian cash or hunt down underground rare books. It's also where a group of college friends come for coffee and a sense of peace.
LAVANDERA: I want to ask you with everything going on in Ukraine, everything here seems so normal.
TAIMUR KRAVCHENKO, LAW STUDENT: Now it's home and we can, like, live a normal life. But that's for now, we don't know what's going to be tomorrow or in a week.
LAVANDERA: It looks normal.
But is it really normal?
KRAVCHENKO: Inside everyone is afraid. If something's going to happen Odessa, of course, we'll protect our city. But right now, we can just sit and live normal life.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): To navigate the streets of Odessa, you see the remaining residents, trying to go about their daily lives. But a large part of the city's historic center is transformed into a fortified zone, with anti-tank barricades, bracing for an amphibious attack by Russian troops from the Black Sea. It's a ghost town.
The residents of Odessa would normally be preparing to hold what is known as the April Fool's parade on this street in the heart of the city. It's a parade that started years ago in response to Soviet censorship.
But now, this area of Odessa is completely fortified. And this year, there will be no parade. Instead, civilian volunteers and activists are mobilizing to support the war effort.
LAVANDERA: So we're in a bomb shelter in Odessa. And this is where they're making bulletproof vests.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): We meet this man, sealing the steel plates of homemade armored vests for front line soldiers. He asked that we call him Martin (ph).
LAVANDERA: We've heard that Russian forces are leaving Kyiv.
Are you concerned?
And do you think that they're going to start coming back toward Odessa?
"We've already beat their ass. We will do it again," he tells me.
Russian naval ships remained stationed off the coast of Odessa in the Black Sea. The concern here is the war will intensify in the south.
Before the war, Martin (ph) worked as a professional scuba diver. He defiantly says he looks forward to exploring the underwater wreckage of those sunken Russian ships as a diver when the war is over.
On a street corner, we find dozens of displaced families, who have escaped to Odessa. They're from the worst war zones, hoping to find food and clothing.
Olga Petkovich is waiting with five of her six children.
LAVANDERA: So you come from a village that was surrounded by Russian soldiers. You're in the crossfire.
[00:35:00]
LAVANDERA: How frightening was that?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): "I was scared for the children most of all," she tells me.
Olga says her family had to walk through a forest to escape shelling. Tears well up in her eyes as her husband tells us Russian soldiers broke into their homes, taking everything they could from the families in their village.
OLGA PETKOVICH, DISPLACED WAR VICTIM (through translator): When we came here, the volunteers told us to say what we need. But I'm ashamed. I've worked all my life and never asked anyone for anything. And now I have to ask.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Her little girl wipes away her mother's tears.
"Mother, why are you crying?" the girl asks.
"Because they were shelling us a lot," Olga tells her.
Not far from where we met Olga's family, we notice a father teaching his daughter how to ride a bike, a poignant moment in the midst of a surreal world -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Odessa, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A lot more on Russia's war in Ukraine with my colleague, Michael Holmes, after the break, including how two Ukrainian filmmakers and their movie actually turned into uncanny reality. More on that. You are watching CNN.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone. I am Michael Holmes. Welcome back.
Well, when two Ukrainian filmmakers made a movie about war between Ukraine and Russia, they didn't know how eerily correct their predictions would be. Three years after creating "Atlantis," reality is mirroring their art.
And now they are turning their cameras to document this conflict. But despite the destruction of their homeland, they remain positive and resolute about their future. CNN's Eleni Giokos has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Russian bombs hit the first Ukrainian cities, it was a shock but not a surprise to Ukrainian filmmakers Valentyn Vasyanovych and Vladimir Yatsenko. In fact, they spent months of their lives imagining it. Set in 2025,
their film, "Atlantis," depicts a desolate Ukraine, ravaged by a brutal Russian invasion. They imagine a remarkable victory but at a huge cost. The Ukraine they knew torn to pieces, graveyards stretching for miles.
VALENTYN VASYANOVYCH, UKRAINIAN FILMMAKER: (Speaking foreign language).
GIOKOS (voice-over): Most of the actors you see on screen are veterans themselves, who know the violence of war all too well.
VASYANOVYCH: (Speaking foreign language).
GIOKOS (voice-over): As cities they know become war zones, Valentyn and Vladimir have been on the ground, documenting the experience of ordinary people.
VLADIMIR YATSENKO, UKRAINIAN FILMMAKER: We shot several days for evacuation of the -- some suburbs nearby Kyiv, which called Irpin. And it was just time when we (INAUDIBLE) the cruelty of the war because the -- while the Russian people bomb shelling us during the -- during this air creation (ph) of the just of (ph) civilians.
And we tried to do it as best as we can because it's going to be kind of historical document, what's happened with all of us.
GIOKOS (voice-over): And if the time comes to fight, both say they'll be ready.
YATSENKO: We still fighting for our right to exist and just to understand that we -- we -- I mean, it's not -- it -- it's not something which we can negotiate. I mean, all we survive and be a separate nation or we going to be enslaved.
Don't be afraid to fight for -- for -- for your own future because we have a common future, all of us. All the world now is connected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And Ukraine's men's national team hopes to be among the 32 nations in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. Their qualifying match was postponed to June, when the war broke out. The tournament kicks off in November, features plenty of story lines, both off and on the pitch.
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HOLMES: To a major development for one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, the conflict in Yemen.
For the first time in six years, a truce has been agreed between the Saudi-led military alliance and the Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran. The agreement will see air, ground and marine operations halted in Yemen and around its borders for two months. The head of the U.N. has welcomed the move, saying he hopes it will
mark the start of a better future for the people of Yemen.
Riyadh and Tehran, they have been engaged in what is widely being called a proxy war, one that has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions of others on the brink of starvation.
Pope Francis has apologized to Canada's indigenous people for the role the church played in decades of abuse, particularly at residential schools. The Catholic leader also said he would visit Canada after meeting over three days at the Vatican with Canadian indigenous groups.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASSIDY CARON, PRESIDENT, METIS NATIONAL COUNCIL: The pope's words today were historic, to be sure. They were necessary and I appreciate them deeply.
And I now look forward to the pope's visit to Canada, where he can offer those sincere words of apology directly to our survivors and their families, whose acceptance and healing ultimately matters the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Indigenous leaders had sought the apology for years. But things sped up last year. That's when suspected graves of hundreds of children were found near some of the now-closed schools. Many children were forced to attend them to assimilate, so-called. Canadian commission called the abuse cultural genocide.
Well, there is more fallout after Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars. We will have details on the actor's actions and the punishment he faces from the Academy. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences accepts Will Smith's resignation after the actor slapped the presenter, Chris Rock, on stage last weekend during the Oscars. You remember that.
In a statement, Smith apologized for his actions, saying this, quote, "The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all of those in attendance and global audiences at home.
"I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work." CNN's Chloe Melas has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHLOE MELAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's become one of the most famous and controversial moments in Oscar's history.
CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.
MELAS: It wasn't just Oscars viewers who initially thought the moment Will Smith slap Chris Rock might have been stage. The men running the entire show, first time Oscar's producer, Will Packer, says in a new interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," that he thought so too.
WILL PACKER, PRODUCER, OSCARS TELECAST: I thought it was a bit. I thought it was a bit like everybody else. Once I saw Will yelling at the stage with such vitriol, my heart dropped.
MELAS: Packer says he rushed over to Rock as he exited the stage.
PACKER: I said, "Did he really hit you?"
And he looked at me and he goes, "Yes," he goes, "yes, I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali," as only Chris can. He was immediately in joke mode but you could tell he was very much still in shock.
MELAS: Smith played the boxer in the 2001 film, "Ali."
[00:50:00]
MELAS: CNN has obtained new video from a seat-filler inside the Oscars, showing a new angle of the incident. This time filmed from behind Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Packer says that Los Angeles Police were prepared to arrest Smith that night.
PACKER: And they were saying, "This is battery. We will go get him. You can press charges. We can arrest him."
As they were talking, Chris was -- he was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, "No, I'm fine."
MELAS: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a statement earlier this week, stating that they asked Smith to leave and he refused. A source telling CNN that Academy leaders had told Smith's publicist to deliver the message to the actor.
Now Packer is saying Chris Rock did not want Smith removed from the show.
PACKER: They were about to physically remove Will Smith.
I said, "Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse."
MELAS: Packer praised Rock for how he handled the situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he save the show that night?
PACKER: I think he did. I think he did. He certainly saved what was left of it at that point. Chris handled the moment with such grace and aplomb.
MELAS: Rock told fans during his standup show in Boston this week, that he is still processing what happened.
ROCK: So at some point, I'll talk about that shit.
[00:55:00]
ROCK: And it'll be serious, I'll be funny.
MELAS: Thursday, he faced a heckler who yelled, "Eff Will Smith."
According to "People," Rock repeatedly told the audience member, "No."
The Academy will still have conventions for Will Smith's actions and they are going to announce that around April 18th. It could mean that the Academy bans Will Smith from attending the Oscars ever again.
The fact that Will Smith has resigned means he can no longer be a voting member in the Academy, so he can't vote in upcoming awards shows.
Now could he still be nominated for an Academy Award?
That's left to be seen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Chloe Melas there.
That will do it for this hour. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. Do stick around. Our coverage from Lviv, Ukraine, continues with John Vause in just a moment.
