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Russian Forces Abandon Positions at Key Airbase; Over 4.1 Million Have Fled Ukraine; At Least Five Journalists Killed in Ukraine Conflict; "Impossible" to Determine Russian Exposure to Radiation at Chernobyl; Moscow Pushes for Trade with India; Bucha Streets Littered with Bodies; Russia's War Making Food Shortages in Some Regions Worse; Academy Accepts Will Smith's Resignation. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 02, 2022 - 02:00   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, welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces appear to be increasingly aggressive and confident with the conflict well into its second month. The Ukrainians are retaking territory lost in the early days of the invasion.

As Russia's offensive stalls, the Kremlin has indicated its main goal now is control of the Donbas region in the east. Russian troops are notably being deployed from northern Ukraine. But President Zelenskyy warns the areas retaken from the Russians are still too dangerous for residents to return to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are moving forward, moving carefully. And everyone who returns to this area must also be very careful.

It is still impossible to return to normal life as it was. Even in the areas we returned after the fighting, you will have to wait, wait for our land to be cleared, wait until you can be assured that the new shelling is impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: 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. Russian forces were well dug in. It's unclear where they went.

Now to disturbing video; a few miles south of the airbase, Ukrainian forces report retaking the town of Bucha. Images from there show widespread damage from shelling, as well as dead bodies left in the streets.

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 Ukrainian 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 correspondents are covering this conflict from around the world. We have Vedika Sud in New Delhi, Ivan Watson in Zaporizhzhya and Atika Shubert in Valencia, Spain. But we begin our coverage with our Alex Marquardt in Washington.

(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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

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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.

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ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: What they call deescalation, I call repositioning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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: The U.N. now reporting that 4.1 million people have fled Ukraine since the fighting began over a month ago.

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VAUSE: And many who have been left behind or have been unable to escape have felt the full force of Russia's attack.

A hospital in the Kharkiv region says it's overrun with patients. They say they have admitted more than 100 civilians and that includes 15 children. The injuries they describe are horrific.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Windows started to shake. Then I saw something that looked like holes. Then, bullets started to fly above, powder, smoke. I was screaming and my mouth was full of it.

Mostly, my legs were wounded. I have got one open fracture on one leg, one more perforating wound on another leg and I have another perforating wound on my hip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine.

In the coming hours, a convoy of buses will, again, try to reach the besieged city of Mariupol. Civilians there have endured weeks of a brutal Russian military assault. On Friday, an evacuation organized by the Red Cross was denied access, preventing thousands from leaving that city.

Others who have been lucky enough to get out have been taken to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhya. Ivan Watson was at a refugee center when they arrived.

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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)

VAUSE: Our thanks to Ivan Watson for that report.

Now according to Reporters without Borders, five journalists, three foreign and two Ukrainian, have been killed since this war began. Journalists are also among scores of people who have disappeared or been detained by the Russians.

Marcus Yam is among the foreign journalists covering Russia's invasion. He is a photographer and correspondent for the "Los Angeles Times." He has been documenting up close Putin's war of choice.

He left Ukraine earlier this week and joins us now live from Berlin.

Marcus, thank you for taking the time to be with us. You have covered war zones before. We both spent a lot of time in Gaza, for example.

But as a journalist, you feel this conflict feels different?

Are the risks much higher than in other places?

MARCUS YAM, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": I mean, yes and no.

[02:10:00]

YAM: I mean, all war essentially is risky and all war is dangerous. The suffering and -- in the war, like in other conflicts in Gaza and the conflict here, I mean, the war here is essentially, you know, no different.

Civilians, at the end of the day, pay the biggest price, when two sides decide to pick up arms. We're seeing -- I mean, from our reporting on the ground, we are seeing, you know, humanitarian aid stations being targeted, you know, civilians caught in the crosshairs, you know, especially during bombardment.

We are seeing a lot of casualties on all sides. But it's a difficult one.

VAUSE: It is. And as you report this story here, as a journalist, you have to open yourself up to try and at least feel and understand what so many people here are experiencing because, if you cannot feel it, you can't understand it.

Does that take a toll after a while?

YAM: Yes, I mean it definitely does. I mean -- I mean, we remind ourselves that we have a job to do. But essentially, we're all very, very human. I mean, we all do our best to put ourselves in -- into the shoes and try to empathize with, you know, the lives of the people that we cover on the ground.

But you know, it does. I mean, it does essentially end up, you know, these experiences and stories that you carry, end up calcifying in your mind.

But you know, what choice do we have?

VAUSE: And what I have noticed with some of your photographs is you tend -- you have this ability, I don't know whether it's innate ability or how you do it -- but you seem to capture these very human moments amid what seems to be this overwhelming backdrop of turbulence and chaos.

YAM: Yes, I mean, it's essentially the job and essentially what we have to do.

But I try my best to paint the picture of what's going on, the best, most accurate and honest picture of what is going on around us. And I do my best -- we do our best to insert ourselves in places that readers and viewers cannot go themselves.

So in that sense, I feel like I have to bring them into the storm for them to understand what and how the storm feels like.

VAUSE: When you think about what Putin did to Grozny and what he did to Aleppo, compared to what is happening in Ukraine, is the only difference right now sort of a strong presence of reporters?

Especially from the "L.A. Times," CNN and other news outlets, which are sort of documenting, with saturation coverage almost, what is happening here because if you weren't here, if I wasn't here, if my -- our news organization wasn't here, do you think the situation would be a lot worse than it is right now?

YAM: I think without journalists on the ground and journalism covering the atrocities and the horror of wars, I think war would be -- I mean, this war would be 10 times worse, I think, you know, without -- without information getting out, without the needs -- you know, without coverage of civilian casualties and all that stuff.

I think -- I do think that it would be a lot worse. But also, at the same time, you know, you know, I'm only -- like you, I'm only a little, small part of this big machine. And I really can't speculate too much. I mean, but I do hope that the --

(CROSSTALK)

YAM: -- difference.

VAUSE: Yes, we all do. And because if you think about Grozny and Aleppo, there wasn't really the same kind of coverage. And Putin seemed to get away with it, if you like. Maybe it is a bit different this time. We just have to hope and wait and see.

But of all the moments you have seen and all the -- all the horrific events you have been to and you've covered here so far, what has stood out the most to you as being distinctive about this conflict compared to others?

YAM: I think the most distinctive thing like, you know, I think is ultimately the courage of people that I have experienced in this war. I mean, I have seen -- from our reporting, I met -- I even met a soldier in Kharkiv, who was bombed out -- who survived bombings three times in the same building. And yet he still returned to his post -- the same post.

You know?

And hoped there won't be a fourth time. But you know, is brave enough to come back and, you know, do his job and defend his country. And I've seen civilians just, like, do whatever they can. I mean, even if it doesn't mean picking up arms, I mean, I've seen people wanting to help their country by volunteering to drive getaway cars.

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YAM: And, you know, the besieged town of Irpin, when Russia was pushing forward toward Kyiv, and they just would risk their lives, driving down roads with snipers and artillery and pick up civilians to ferry them to safety. I mean, like, that is courage like I have never seen before. That is bravery.

VAUSE: Yes. And rarely do you have a conflict where there is an invader and there is a country which has been invaded. It just seems so clear-cut this time. There is a good guy and a bad guy, if you like.

YAM: Yes, you know, the conflicts, all I've been in have always been mostly internal. And you know, they're rather devastating still. But I've never seen an official, formal war between two countries in my time, at least as a journalist.

And I think this is a tough one to be covering, because, you know, Russia is, you know, I feel Russia is sort of the vanguard of this war. They, you know, dictate sort of the course of the war. And they have inflicted a lot of, lot of damage here.

VAUSE: Marcus, thank you. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for your work. It's some great journalism in the "L.A. Times," so we appreciate you being with us.

YAM: Thank you for having me on.

VAUSE: Next up, concerns over the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. We will hear from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog as questions arise about the fate of Russian troops that entered no man's land surrounding Chernobyl.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone.

An update now from the director of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who says it is impossible to know the level of radiation Russian troops were exposed to during their month-long occupation there.

In a Telegram message, he says troops may have received significant exposure while digging trenches in the area but their activities at this point remain unclear.

U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says he wants to head a mission to Chernobyl as soon as possible. In fact, the head of that nuclear watchdog says what is happening around Ukraine's nuclear plants is dangerous and uncharted territory.

Rafael Grossi just came back from a trip to Russia as well as Ukraine. CNN's Becky Anderson asked him about his concerns and about the condition of nuclear plants here in this region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL MARIANO GROSSI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: The power plants, the reactors are operating as if we were in peacetime, only that we are not in peacetime. And this, of course, creates number of question marks and situations that require attention.

As you were saying, I've just returned barely an hour ago, returned from Ukraine, where I have been talking to my Ukrainian counterparts, on the activities that we buy.

I mean, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency is going to be performing as of next week, hopefully, to assist Ukraine in preserving the safety of their installations, including Chernobyl. Personally, I was at the closest nuclear reactors to the war zone in the south of the country.

And there, the operations continue in a satisfactory way. But of course, there is a lot of uncertainty that you can imagine.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: And you remain extremely concerned that this infrastructure could become a target during this war, correct. You and I spoke a couple of weeks ago and you expressed significant concern at that point.

GROSSI: Of course, I think that the preserving the physical integrity of a nuclear power plant is of the essence.

I think that the deployment of the IEA the presence of the IEA, 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, we have been looking at and must be looking at namely the possibility of a nuclear accident, which is something different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Grossi also added that Russia fully understands that any attack on nuclear sites would violate international law.

Well, Russia is pushing for more trade with India. It is looking for a lifeline from those crushing economic sanctions. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was in New Delhi Friday. He met with the prime minister, Narendra Modi, as well as other officials.

As CNN's Vedika Sud reports, Lavrov making a big push to sidestep Western currencies in future trade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a busy day for Russian foreign minister Lavrov in India, his first visit to New Delhi since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lavrov met with India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, and foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Friday.

In a major announcement, Lavrov said that Moscow is ready to supply any goods India wants. He said more transactions between the countries would be done through the rupee-ruble mechanism (ph). Slamming the U.S., Lavrov said pressure from the West will not affect (ph) the partnership between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, with regards using the ruble and the rupee in our financial trade dealings, I would recall that, many years ago, we started moving in our relations with India, with China and with many other countries from using dollar and euros to more and more use of national currencies.

Under these circumstances, this threat (ph), I believe will be intensified, which is natural and obvious. We will be ready to supply to India any goods which India wants to buy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SUD (voice-over): Despite diplomatic pressure, India has maintained a normalized stand on the war. It has abstained from condemning Russia's aggression and keen to international war turn has scored (ph) for disputes to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

On Friday, Modi emphasized of the importance of cessation of violence and conveyed India's readiness to contribute in any way to the peace efforts.

[02:25:00]

SUD: Responding to a question on Lavrov's India visit Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson said America is not seeking to change India-Russian ties but is seeking to build a consensus in the international community against Russia's aggression.

And the spokesman said India has leverage. India shares a strong partnership with Russia, a major arms supplier. More than 50 percent of India's defense equipment comes from Russia. Lavrov's visit coincides with a trip to New Delhi by Britain's foreign secretary and U.S. deputy national security adviser -- Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, our international viewers, we'll break away now. "VITAL SIGNS WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA" is up next for them. For those in North America, back with our normal breaking news coverage after a short break.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause, live in Lviv, Ukraine.

We are getting disturbing new images of what Russian soldiers are leaving behind, the death and destruction as they move east. Video shows a number of bodies, dead bodies, along a roadway, including one person who appears to have been on a bicycle.

The video was taken on Friday and comes from the town of Bucha, where a five-week long firefight has been taking place. It's been geolocated by CNN and confirmed. It is unclear, however, if the bodies are civilians or soldiers, Russian or Ukrainian. We don't know.

Bucha is one of the towns Ukrainian forces have recently retaken from the Russian troops.

Also, this is not Ukraine, it is a fuel depot just north of the Ukrainian border, in the Russian city of Belgorod. Russian troops have used Belgorod as a staging area for sending troops and equipment into Ukraine.

The Russians accused Ukrainians of sending two helicopters to attack that fuel depot but tried to downplay the attack, saying only civil transport was supplied with fuel from that facility.

For its part, Ukraine would neither confirm nor deny it was responsible. Here is what Ukraine's president had to say.

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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: Now to Atika Shubert.

Atika, you have more now on what the Russians are saying about this attack and their response to the Ukrainians.

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Yes. This is a very unusual incident. This is one of the rare times that we've seen infrastructure actually hit on the Russian side. Of course, we have seen Russian troops attacking fuel depots all up and down Ukraine.

But we rarely see it the other way around. Now that video, as you mentioned, has been geolocated. The Russian defense ministry says that the helicopters in that video are Ukrainian military helicopters. That is something that we cannot confirm.

But you know, it's clear that there was quite a significant attack on this fuel depot. And it set on fire 16,000 cubic meters of fuel. That's about more than 3 million gallons of fuel. That's according to the Tass state news agency in Russia. So this is quite a significant hit.

Now the Russian defense ministry says that this fuel depot did not supply Russian troops in Ukraine, that it is only for civilian use. But I think it's important to mention that Belgorod is the main staging ground for Russian troops. So this is bound to be a significant blow on the logistical chain.

I think it's also interesting, however, that while the Russian side has been putting this forward, it's also an embarrassing admission, because Russia has claimed that it has air superiority over Ukraine, that it has virtually, you know, destroyed their Ukrainian air force.

And yet it's also claiming that this was a Ukrainian air attack on its fuel infrastructure. So there is also some conflicting information there.

And I think, despite what we have heard from Russia, this is still a relatively muted response from Russia to this attack. And the fact that Ukraine won't confirm or deny as well is also quite unusual. And that may be because negotiations for a cease-fire are still ongoing and they made progress earlier in the week in Turkey.

The video conversations are still going, so I think these accusations now may be muted to keep those negotiations going -- John.

VAUSE: Atika, good to see you. Thank you.

Atika Shubert there with the Russian side of this airstrike.

Well, the U.N.'s cultural agency says at least 53 historical sites have been damaged during Russia's invasion. The northeastern city of Kharkiv has suffered the most, with 18 damaged sites, including a Holocaust memorial.

Sites like key landmarks in the capital, Kyiv, have remained largely unscathed. None of the seven World Heritage Sites located in Ukraine have been damaged during the hostilities. Let's go back now to Michael Holmes, standing by in Atlanta -- Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All right. Good to see you, John. Fascinating stuff there. We'll check in with you a little bit later. Good to see you there in beautiful Lviv.

VAUSE: Just saying there's snow here (ph), mate, you know what that's like.

[02:35:00]

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: I certainly do. I certainly do. What a gorgeous city. All right. Check in with you, mate.

All right. Russia's war on Ukraine is bringing an unexpected consequence, global food insecurity. We are going to take a look at the threat of food shortages -- and not just in Ukraine. That's when we come back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

We are already seeing how Russia's war is being felt beyond Ukraine's borders. Millions of refugees streaming into its neighbors, for example.

But the impact is also being felt far beyond those frontiers, thousands of miles away, in some of the poorest countries on the planet. Consider this: the World Food Programme says that Ukraine, together with Russia, are responsible for almost 30 percent of the global wheat trade. [02:40:00]

HOLMES: The agency warns any serious disruption, whether from conflict or sanctions, could push food prices beyond their current 10-year highs.

Now that raises the threat of food insecurity for millions of people, especially those who are already under stress because of high levels of food inflation in their countries right now. And now, the World Food Programme is warning about the uncertainty of the upcoming growing season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMSON PHIRI, WFP SPOKESPERSON: Ukraine used to feed 400 million people worldwide. And it's easy to see tracts of arable land, rich soils, good rains, mechanized agriculture.

But the problem now is that a huge question right now comes the next harvest, because those agricultural fields are now the battlefields. And this -- the impact will be felt thousands and thousands of miles away from the battlefield.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Joining me now to talk about this threat is Martin Frick, the director of the World Food Programme global office in Berlin.

It is good to see you, sir. Ukraine has been known as Europe's breadbasket because of its wheat production.

What -- what has this war already done to that production capability?

And what will the likely impact approximate be going forward?

MARTIN FRICK, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL OFFICE, BERLIN, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Good morning.

Let's put it this way: Ukraine and Russia, together, amount for about 12 percent of the global calories that are traded on the world. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, 20 percent of the annual production of wheat of Ukraine and 40 percent of the annual production of maize have been blocked by this conflict.

HOLMES: Extraordinary effect. And those effects go well beyond Ukraine and even Europe, as we were saying. Ukraine also supplies a huge percentage of the WFP's wheat. I think in Yemen alone, 13 million people depended on the World Food Programme in order to just eat.

What -- what happens to the hungry, those dependent on aid, in a global sense, if there is a -- the shortage we think is coming?

FRICK: Well, we need to say that, even before the war in Ukraine, hunger has spiked. We went up from 126 million acutely food-insecure people in 2019 to a staggering 276 million food-insecure people in the beginning of this year. Already, in December, we had operations for food insecure people in

Yemen. We were literally taking from the starving to support the dying. So on top of this crisis comes now the Ukraine war, that has led to a spike in global food prices.

And that pushes countries, that are already deeply in debt after two years of the pandemic, really over the edge. And that means, for the most vulnerable families, that they simply cannot afford food anymore.

HOLMES: Yes, and the sheer cost factor as you were saying, the pandemic, there are other issues as well. And because of those things, the WFP was already paying 30 percent more for food than it was in 2019.

The global wheat prices have since risen 19 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine. That's according to "Business Insider."

How much worse will this war make that situation, the cost factor, let alone supply?

FRICK: Well, before the war, about half of our food supplies came from Ukraine, a staggering 880,000 metric tons. For us at the World Food Programme, this means that our monthly operations have soared up in price to 71 million more a month compared to 2019.

We estimate now that, in different scenario, about 12 percent to 17 percent more people will be acutely food insecure. And that will push up the number of people who are acutely hungry to 323 million people all over the world while, basically, our funding is remaining constant.

So we just don't have enough money to support all the people who urgently need our support.

HOLMES: And wheat aside and more generally on food, overall, I mean, the World Food Programme is -- is having to help out -- I think -- I think it's a million people in Ukraine at the moment, who are food insecure.

What sort of problems is that causing for Ukrainians right now because of this war?

And I know there is all sorts of issues with, you know, supply line logistics and things like that as well.

FRICK: Our biggest concern is obviously to get humanitarian support in the cities most affected. Mariupol comes to mind. And just yesterday, another humanitarian convoy could not reach the city.

[02:45:00]

FRICK: So we are most concerned about the people in these cities. We have now more than 4 million refugees from Ukraine. And we are supporting, also, the countries surrounding Ukraine who is helping the refugees. More than half of the children of Ukraine have left the country. And we estimate that by now, half of the population is food insecure.

Supermarket shelves are emptying fast. And basically, all of the food infrastructure is collapsing as a result of the ongoing attacks.

HOLMES: It really is a dire situation in Ukraine, outside of Ukraine. And appreciate the work that the World Food Programme is doing. Martin Frick, thank you so much.

FRICK: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, to Ethiopia now, where food aid has entered the Tigray region for the first time since December.

The World Food Programme says more than 500 tons of food and nutrition supplies are headed to the region. That follows the cease-fire between rebel forces and the Ethiopian government.

More than 80 percent of Tigray is in urgent need of assistance and more than 2 million people have been forced from their homes since fighting broke out in late 2020.

Coming up here on the program, the men's World Cup draw is set. And we know the groups for the football world's biggest stage. A preview of the matchups, when we come back.

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HOLMES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it accepts Will Smith's resignation after the actor slapped the presenter, Chris Rock, on stage last weekend during the Oscars.

In a statement, Smith apologized for his actions, saying, quote, "I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Awards presentation was shocking, painful and inexcusable.

"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. I am heartbroken."

And Smith finished with, quote, "I'm resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and will accept any further consequences."

Now the Academy says it will continue with disciplinary proceedings against Smith.

The groups for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are now set. The tournament kicks off in November and features plenty of storylines off and on the pitch.

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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes, we're back with more CNN NEWSROOM and latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine right after the break.

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