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Teen with Autism Who Vanished Three Years Ago Found Safe in Utah; One America, Two Economies; Helping Ukrainian-American Children Understand the War in Ukraine; Russian Forces to Close Entry and Exit to Mariupol; Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Ukraine During Easter Blessing. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 17, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: Five people died in renewed Russian rocket and artillery attacks in the city of Kharkiv. Now Russia also shelling a church on this holy day in Ukraine. These attacks coming amid warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin is, quote, "living in his own world," and thinks he is winning the war. That's according to the Austrian chancellor who met with Putin face to face.

And in an exclusive interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Ukraine's president says the entire world should be concerned about what Putin may be capable of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The director of the CIA warned that he's worried Putin might use a tactical nuclear weapon in this fight. Are you worried?

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: Not only me. I think all over the world, all the countries have to be worried because you know that it can be not real information but it can be the truth, because when they begin to speak about one or another that or involved enemies or nuclear weapons or some chemical, you know, issues, chemical weapons, they should do it. They could do it. I mean, they can -- for them, life of the people nothing, that's why.

With truth, I think, not, not be afraid. I mean, don't be afraid, be ready but that is not a question to Ukraine and not only for the Ukraine, for all the world, I think so.

(Through Translator): There is a possibility of them using these weapons. Nobody expected there to be a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from the Russian Federation, no one expected to be a war in 2014, and now, that there will be a full-scale invasion and killing of civilians, nobody expected them to invade the areas where there is no military equipment and just kill and shoot dead the civilian population.

Nobody expected that. But this is a fact. And it happened. And that is when Russia gives information and says if something goes not according to plan, they can use chemical weapons and their nuclear potential. And that is why I believe these are dangerous claims of untrustworthy people and if we believe some of them are already untrustworthy, then they can use nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: I want to go back to CNN's Phil Black who's in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Phil, what more can you tell us about this disturbing new information out of Mariupol. Russian forces announcing the besieged city will be closed for entry and exit starting Monday?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Paula. And on top of that as you touched on, an ultimatum, a very hard ultimatum that was given and it was ignored. Russia's military said that the remaining soldiers in Mariupol had until Sunday, that is today, this afternoon, to put down their weapons and leave the city peacefully or they will be eliminated which is quite a brutal statement, really, but Ukraine's officials say that none of their soldiers are putting down their weapons, none of them are leaving or giving up the fight even though that fight increasingly resembles a last stand but that does not mean the city is about to fall imminently because those defenders in the city have consistently defied expectation, holding out since the first of March, cut off, surrounded without resupply, continuing to defend against the invading Russian force.

They have been pushed back to a relatively small patch of territory now but Ukrainian officials say those soldiers do continue to engage with Russian forces in other parts of the city as well. Officials also say that throughout residential areas of the city, continue to suffer under Russia's bombardment and there are still thought to be more than 100,000 civilians left trapped in that city.

President Zelenskyy says that Russia's actions in Mariupol, the possibility of yet more atrocities against civilians being discovered there could end any chance of further negotiations between the two countries -- Paula.

REID: Phil Black, thank you so much for your reporting.

Now let's bring in retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack. He was a U.S. senior defense attache to Russia, and with me here in the studio is CNN global affairs analyst and "TIME" magazine contributor, Kim Dozier.

All right, General, Russian troops have left the capital region but it's clearly still not safe there. Are you convinced that Putin has given up on that city or is he just playing a long game when it comes to the capital?

BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I think that he has the capital still in his mind.

[19:05:03] He has been rebuffed rather dramatically, but he also has realized that he doesn't have the forces and he got, and so the main effort now is the Donbas, is eastern Ukraine. As we know they have left a force in being up in the north, up in Belarus, and there is always the prospect of them coming back but they've got to now -- they now got to eke out some type of declarable success, I won't even call it a victory, over the next month for their victory day, if you will, celebrations and then other events this summer.

So I think there is a pause. I think Putin wants, still, to take down the Zelenskyy government. But right now, they're focused on eastern Ukraine and finally, taking down this heroic defense, this Ukrainian Stalingrad that is going on right now in Mariupol.

REID: And Kim, the Austrian chancellor says that Putin believes he is winning this war, but really, what else is he going to say, that they're losing? I mean, doesn't he sort of have to say that? Is that grounded in reality, though?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: We don't know how much reality is reaching him. There is not a tradition in the Russian military or in the diplomatic corps to on pass bad news from the bottom up. So he is probably being given a lot of excuses, things like oh, well, you know, NATO is providing things, therefore our forces were caught in this or that situation.

The worry, though, is that he is convinced he has to follow through and that I don't know what the May 9th declaration of victory is going to be. Are they going to say that Mariupol is enough? It doesn't seem to be enough time to get all the forces that the various military experts and military officials I talk to say Russia needs to pour in to close the gap between north and south and lock off that part of eastern Ukraine especially since there are roughly 40,000 Ukrainian troops garrisoned in eastern Ukrainian, some of the most battle- hardened and toughened by the battle before the Russian invasion. So I think what we're looking at is a very long, tough, fight to come.

REID: And General, taking this out of what Vladimir Putin thinks but from a strictly military perspective, is Russia winning?

ZWACK: Absolutely not. Not only have they been beaten on the battle field up in the north and held mostly in check across the land except in the south but even there with bitter fighting, the tattered morale and will to fight in the Russian formations, battered formations, this is a huge reconstitution effort, getting their heads back in. We've all heard about the new general coming in. They've got to pull that together, new logistics, oh, no, it has been an ugly fight for the Russians, the sinking of the Moskva three days ago.

But getting at the earlier point, Putin in his mind has no -- he, the Russians, the regime must win and they will go at all costs to find a way to win and be able to declare success because this isn't just about the world. He has also got a large, so far supportive domestic constituency and Kremlin that is not endlessly compliant.

REID: OK, and President Zelenskyy told our CNN's Jake Tapper that they will not make any land concessions in the east but some people have suggested that's the only off-ramp, so with that off the table, how do you see this playing out?

DOZIER: Well, I have to say that I heard concern from various European diplomats. They're worried that the Biden administration would try to force Zelenskyy into accepting some sort of compromise from Russia and giving up territory in the east. What we're hearing from President Zelenskyy is, what he's hearing from his own people, no way. I think that also means that peace talks are on ice for some time to come. The one thing that could start happening, though, as all of this weaponry floods in, if it gets to those Ukrainian forces in the east in time, and if those forces are able to maintain a line of supplies coming in and out, they can start possibly retaking territory from the Russians, even territory that the Russians had taken years ago. And if we start seeing that happen, that could be, that's the real turning point in this war.

[19:10:06]

REID: Interesting, certainly something we'll be watching for.

General, along those same lines, the city of Mariupol refused a Russian surrender ultimatum. So explain why Ukrainians' refusal to give up that city has been so critical.

ZWACK: Mariupol I think has become a symbol of the fight. And it is a nearly, seemingly hopeless last stand but they are there and they're fighting and they are pinning down thousands of Russian troops that could be diverted up toward the Donbas, up to eastern Ukraine. This is -- this is in macros, if you go back and look up the side wars, the epic Ukrainian defense in 2014, 2015 of Donetsk airport, this is on a macro scale and they are eking out if you will a sense of pride for Ukrainians even more than it is.

Russian formations are -- they're buying time and as I said this is in many ways a Stalingrad was for the Soviets when they beat back the Nazis in '42, '43. It is an awful situation, over 100,000 civilians, but they're not going to surrender. They've already made that point.

REID: Big comparison. Now, Kim, Putin told the Austrian chancellor it's better that the war, quote, "ends earlier rather than later." Certainly most people would agree with that sentiment but what is it mean when Vladimir Putin says that?

DOZIER: It's disturbing, of course he'd like it end earlier because he's literally running out of supplies. Some of the sanctions have already hit things like some of their tank factories. They can't replace some of what they're losing on the battle field, but the disturbing part is, will he then use something else that's in his arsenal, whether it's WMD, tactical nuclear weapon. And that concern is grave enough that the CIA director last week said yes, it's a possibility and President Zelenskyy said it as well.

Would he escalate to deescalate in the Russian terms? But what he doesn't understand is if he takes that step then NATO will have to be committed in a way that it has resisted up to this point. And I don't know if there's anyone in Moscow who will tell him that.

REID: Ominous. General, the Kremlin announced on Saturday, another Russian general was killed in the fighting. So if you tally up the generals who have died, the other problems the Russians are facing, clearly this war is going to hurt Russia's military in the long-run, correct?

ZWACK: There's already reevaluation as we go. They got to go with what they're fighting, they are being pushed to fight, they can't really pause for too long because I think the regime is pushing them. Yes, they've lost eight generals now, and pushed up to the front, communications are lousy, forced to take charge, Ukrainians know what to look for and it has been a disaster, and also in the Black Sea.

So, yes, they have to go, they've been reorganizing. Maybe one aspect of this is the Russian military at least in the front is more seasoned over the last horrific seven weeks for them. However, they've got a long way to go. They're bringing in young conscripts from elsewhere, other formations, they've got a -- meanwhile, the leaders are getting killed because they're up there trying to take charge with communications that are built on the Ukrainian cyber backbone and getting knocked off in large numbers.

It's a mess, but they're going to keep pushing with this new general and new organization now that they've pulled all the pieces together that were not there in the first big drive of six weeks ago.

REID: A mess indeed. General Peter Zwack and Kim Dozier, thank you so much.

And coming up, Pope Francis calling for peace in Ukraine during his Easter blessing, next a member of the Ukrainian parliament who met with the Pope yesterday joins me live.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:40]

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (through translator): May there be peace in war torn Ukraine. So sorely tried by the violence and the destruction of the cruel and senseless war in which people died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: That was Pope Francis this morning during his Easter blessing praying for peace in Ukraine.

Now joining me now is Maria Mezentseva, a member of Ukraine's parliament.

All right, Maria, you have a Ukrainian team in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, we'll get to that in a minute, but first you're with the delegation on a trip to Italy. You met with Pope Francis yesterday. Can you share with us what you discussed with him?

MARIA MEZENTSEVA, UKRAINE PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Thank you very much for this opportunity to talk very openly about quite a sincere thing with his holiness, and also, his state's secretary arrived before the mass started yesterday in St. Paul's Basilica, so we have received a very let's say positive signal on the fact that the instrument that can be actually used to tackle the very concrete sentiment of this war is the presence of Pope Francis in Ukraine himself, and, of course, his team.

[19:20:15]

We do understand that the fact that it's above politics. It's above diplomacy. This is something that his holiness can use today, right now. And it can actually tackle the cause of war. In the heart of it in Mariupol, in the smaller towns up in the northeast of our country, in Kherson region, and all strategic points which are now still, well, they remain unstable but our armies stand strong even though Russians are giving a sort of deadlines to be evacuated or to surrender, simply, which we will not do.

Also, I have informed myself his holiness about the number of casualties among children. He started crying, simply. It touched him so much because he personally deals with the initiative which is bringing children with illness some hope for being killed. We, in Kharkiv, today, were witnessing very severe bombardments and missiles. One of them actually damaged my team's humanitarian aid center and warehouse.

We don't give up, even though every day in Kharkiv, there are children and adults who are giving their lives or those wounded, for the fact, for the right to live. This severe, brutal and cruel actions have to be stopped and that's why we continue to call the whole world, including the governments of many other countries to deliver us weapons. Weapons we'll of course not discuss with Pope Francis but we did discuss a further approach to humanitarian corridors and his state secretary, his comment was very clear.

We have advice to talk about to Putin about that because the answer of his negotiations can be yes, but then they don't do anything about it. We have to evacuate people. We have to put them in a safe place and then the army (INAUDIBLE).

REID: Now in Kharkiv, you have a humanitarian team working there. Can you tell us about the work that they are doing day to day?

MEZENTSEVA: Yes, absolutely. Just before the trip to Rome which was quite long from Kharkiv, it takes about two days, I was myself on the numerous challenges in city center in Kharkiv, same as my team. We have different spots which are working, some to deliver and pack food in plastic bags, paper bags, and deliver it to very concrete addresses. There are some restaurants who are cooperating with us to feed people in the underground metro stations and those who were not able to leave their homes, so we also deliver hot meals.

There are also very concrete volunteers who work with hospitals, children, to be evacuated. I met one young boy in the basement of northern part of the city and he has an illness and disease. He couldn't stay anymore in the basement because the missiles were very severe, he is already safe with his mom and his brother in Poland, and we really appreciate the effort of many, who, with no mandate, like for instance the mandate of the Red Cross, having no mandate, they do evacuate people. They do risk their lives but the price they pay is really high.

One of our volunteers didn't survive when he was riding a bicycle, delivering medicine at the outskirts of Kharkiv. We don't want these fatalities to continue. We don't want people to suffer. We want all these teams to be safe and sound on the ground, but we can only suggest it to them once the cease fire is implemented. That we also call upon, and thus where its international community can help us.

REID: Well, Maria, thank you for your incredible work and I'm sorry for the loss of that volunteer. Thank you for joining us.

[19:25:06]

MEZENTSEVA: Thank you.

REID: And a quick programming note, the unbelievable true story of the man who took on Putin and lived to expose the truth. The Sundance Award-winning film "NAVALNY" airs next Sunday at 9:00 p.m. here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: In the Missouri statehouse, an impassioned debate over a bill that would allow schools to restrict transgendered athletes' participation in sports. Openly gay Missouri state lawmaker Ian Mackey confronted one of the bill's sponsors saying he used to be afraid of people like him, but no more.

[19:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN MACKEY (D), STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR MISSOURI: Gentlemen, I'm not afraid of you anymore, because you're going to lose. You may win this today, but you're going to lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: The video of the lawmaker's comments posted on Twitter have been viewed more than five million times.

And an astonishing reunion of a young man with autism with his family who had been searching for him for three long years.

Last week, Utah Deputies discovered a young man huddled and shivering outside a convenience store within 700 miles from where he was last seen, and it was the humanity and the perseverance of those Deputies that led to an emotional phone call with the teen's family who feared he was dead.

CNN's Camila Bernal is with us now.

Camila, this is an amazing story, but also leaves a lot of unanswered questions. What can you tell us?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, it really is a remarkable story and the Summit County Sheriff's Office in Utah, calling it serving with compassion. There are just no other words for it.

But let's start from the beginning. This all happened a couple of weeks ago because the Sheriff's Office started getting calls about 19- year-old Connor Jack Oswald. So the Deputies would go and check on him, but he refused the help. And the Deputy said that he was not breaking the law, but they understood that he communicated differently.

And so last Saturday, there was another call that went in to the Sheriff's Department and that's when the officers went out there again. This time, they were able to help him.

All of this interaction was caught on police bodycam video. So it is really nice to be able to see what those officers did.

Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think you're shivering cold. You cold? You want to come sit in his car and warm up for a minute?

We can't have you sitting in front of the door here all night.

CONNOR JACK OSWALD, MISSING TEEN FROM CALIFORNIA: As long as I am not being taken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, I can't hear you.

OSWALD: As long as I am not being taken anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're not being taken anywhere. Just come sit in the car and warm up. Where's your shopping cart at?

OSWALD: It got stolen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It got stolen?

OSWALD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's no good.

OSWALD: I think the last (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go and sit in my front passenger seat where it's warm. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just come in here and warm up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, you have a knife or a gun or anything like that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bazooka? A crossbow?

OSWALD: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Just have a seat. Where were you at when your shopping car got stolen?

OSWALD: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?

OSWALD: It doesn't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now, after this encounter, it was a dispatcher who started looking through pages and pages of missing children. Eventually, the dispatcher was able to essentially put it all together and identify Connor Jack Oswald. And then the deputies were able to get a hold of his mother.

When they talked to her she told them that he had a very distinctive birthmark on his neck they were able to spot that birthmark, and then his stepfather went all the way to Utah to try to identify him in person.

Once he identified him he was able to call his mother and there was a really moving phone call that to was caught on police bodycam video. Here is that emotional moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The missing person photo that we located was this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then the photo that came from Nevada for the arrest was this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy crap.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit older, but yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what stood out to me was the ears.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, not knowing him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looks pretty similar to this. His hair is longer right now. His beard is a little bit thicker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Oh wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sweetheart is alive. Oh my God. Then can he come home now, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I definitely will do my best to bring him home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now, the Sheriff said there was not a dry eye in that room. We know that he is getting the help that he needs at the moment and is expected to be with his mother soon -- Paula.

REID: We are glad to hear that he is getting the help that he needs.

Camila Bernal, thank you so much for your reporting.

And coming up, could strong employment numbers actually be hurting the economy? We'll break it down next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:39:38]

REID: "It's the economy, stupid," the political axiom made famous by former Bill Clinton strategist, James Carville, may prove prescient in the November 2023 midterms.

Consider these recent cnn.com headlines. "U.S. home prices are rising so fast property taxes can't keep up."

"Mortgage rates hit five percent for the first time in over a decade."

Oh and if you're thinking of renting, consider median rent is now nearly $1,800.00 per month, a shocking figure up 17% from just a year ago.

[19:40:13]

REID: And we haven't even mentioned gas prices, or sky high inflation. So joining me now, Catherine Rampell, she is a CNN economics and political commentator, also a "Washington Post" opinion columnist.

Hi, Catherine. How bad is all of that news I just ticked off going to hurt Democrats in the November midterms. CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Democrats already have

a number of forces working against them this year, right? It's a midterm election after a new President was elected two years ago, that usually means that that President's party loses power, you have redistricting, et cetera.

The economic numbers you just rattled off are certainly not going to help. Now, to be fair, there's a lot of good stuff happening in the economy, too. Unemployment is extremely low, almost as low as its bottom level number right before the pandemic, people are able to get jobs, there are many more vacant jobs, and there are workers looking for them.

So the job market looks good. The problem is that wages haven't kept up with inflation. So people were getting jobs, but their wages aren't keeping up with the cost of living, not to mention any of those other individual numbers that you rattled off, that may be even more salient things like gas prices and rent, for example, none of that is going to be good for Democrats. Whether or not they can do anything about it, they are going to get blamed for the state of the economy.

REID: And this week, Moody's Analytics warned that trouble is brewing in the U.S. economy unless job growth slows. Now, that seems counterintuitive. So can you explain in the simplest terms what that means you would think it would be the opposite?

RAMPELL: Right. Yes, it's a little bit hard to wrap your head around. But basically, we've been running the economy hot. I say we, but really, that means policymakers both at the Fed and fiscal policymakers, people in Congress, and in the White House, people who decide how much money gets spent. When you run the economy hot that means that yes, there's a lot of demand for workers, but you also have a lot of demand for everything else.

And that ends up bidding up prices, as well as bidding up wages. So there is thought to be somewhat of a tradeoff, when you're when, like the Fed, for example, is deciding how to set interest rates, you know, how do you get maximum employment and stable prices? Those are their -- that's their dual mandate.

And in some cases, those objectives are at odds, and the question right now is how does the Fed tamp down demand just enough so that you don't see prices getting beat up as much as we've seen in the past few months, and yet, don't put people out of work? And there are a lot of people who think that you can't do one without the other, that you're going -- and the very tools that need to be exercised to get inflation under control, are probably going to cool off the job market as well and potentially raise unemployment.

The Fed has argued that it can walk that very narrow path and find a way to get inflation under control without putting people out of work, but historically, that's been really challenging. And when they've had to raise interest rates to deal with inflation, historically, most of the time, we have resulted in a recession, which of course means people losing their jobs and consumers pulling back on spending and that sort of thing. REID: All right, lastly, I want to ask you about everybody's favorite

business story this week, Elon Musk making a bid to buy Twitter. So this in your analysis, how would this impact their business model and potentially public discourse in this country?

RAMPELL: Well, it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen, right? I mean, I don't mean that just because Elon Musk has announced a bunch of things that were stunts in the past that he didn't deliver on. This is something that he's unlikely to be joking about.

But the company, Twitter, has taken some actions, the so-called poison pill measures that will make it much more difficult or at least much more expensive for Elon Musk to actually follow through on his plans or his attempt to take over the company.

If he is successful, and again, that's a big if, he has indicated that he wants to roll back some of their content moderation policies. He wants to rely less on advertising and more on subscriptions. He wants to have an edit button on tweets, which is always a controversial thing, kick off some of the spam bots. I don't know how that interacts with the content, moderation stuff he has also talked about, but there are a number of changes that he would like to make that a lot of other people have also been agitating for.

So whether or not, of course, he is ultimately successful with this apparent hostile takeover bid, we might see Twitter make some of these changes anyway. It is just --you know, it depends on what they think is in the best interest of shareholders at this point and what will retain the most users.

REID: he has got everybody talking about poison pills, good news for business experts, lawyers. Catherine, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: As we continue to bring you the heartbreaking stories out of Ukraine, for Ukrainians here in the U.S., these last several weeks have been extremely difficult, watching and reading the news about what is happening in their homeland, but the impact of the war is also taking a toll on Ukrainian-American children.

CNN's Gary Tuchman visited an after school program in Ohio, where the war has become part of their lesson plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's called the Ukrainian Academy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon, everyone.

STUDENTS: Good afternoon.

[19:50:09]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So today we are going to speak about war and peace.

TUCHMAN (voice over): In the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you raise your hands if you have grandparents in Ukraine?

TUCHMAN (voice over): Almost all of their parents were born in Ukraine and many of these children were also born there.

This is a private preschool, daycare, as well as an after school program, for children ages six months to 12 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we in a state of peace or are we in a state of war in this country?

STUDENTS: Peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about Ukraine?

STUDENTS: War.

TUCHMAN (voice over): The feeling here is that although what's happening in Ukraine is frightening, it is important for these children to learn about it and talk about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can you say about soldiers Ukraine? How would you how do you feel about them?

BOY: They are brave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are brave. Right.

BOY: Soldiers help people to not die.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If someone comes to your house, start destroying it, taking your stuff, you know, would you be happy about that?

STUDENTS: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think this is right?

STUDENTS: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When another country are like coming to another country and taking stuff and bombing, do you think this is right?

STUDENTS: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Who came to Ukraine?

STUDENTS: Russia.

TUCHMAN (voice over): The teachers ask how the children are feeling about all this.

BOY: Worried.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worried.

GIRL: Scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scared. What are the words that is war? How can we describe the war?

BOY: Sadness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sadness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family is -- well are very scared for my grandma, my great grandma, my relatives that are also in war. And is very anxious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope Ukraine wins because some Russia people are good and saying stop to the other Russia who are being bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So not all the Russian people are bad, right? There are some people who just you know, say, no war, please stop it. They're asking the President.

BOY: Yes, it's not because of the Russian people. It's because of the President. He's greedy and trying to take over the country.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Roman and Halina Dutka are the owners of the academy.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Do you think your students here are now prouder to be Ukrainian-American than even before this war?

ROMAN DUTKA, UKRAINIAN ACADEMY CO-OWNER: Yes, I think they are proud about their roots, that they are Ukrainians and proud that Ukraine is standing strong. I think that --

HALINA DUTKA, UKRAINIAN ACADEMY CO-OWNER: Stand together.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Before we say goodbye to the students, I get to talk with them a bit.

TUCHMAN (on camera): If you had superpowers, what would you do if you had superpowers?

GIRL: Save the good people.

TUCHMAN: Save the good people.

GIRL: Yes.

TUCHMAN: That's what you would do as Superwoman.

GIRL: Yes, yes, and make the house fly into the air.

TUCHMAN: Make the house fly into the air.

GIRL: Yes.

TUCHMAN: Fly to safety?

GIRL: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice over): The laughter of children who have a lot on their minds.

Gary Tuchman, CNN Parma Heights, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: More than 4.8 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the war began less than two months ago, and some may never get the chance to return to the life they once had. You're now looking at the spectacular New York City skyline, and in partnership with CNN's Impact Your World, the Empire State Building is shining its tower lights in the colors of the Ukrainian flag every night through June 1st.

For more information on how you can help provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, just log on to cnn.com/impact.

Well, that does it for me. Jim Acosta will be back next week.

Now, we won't embarrass him by giving away his age, but today is his birthday. So we want to wish him a very Happy Birthday.

And before we go, I want to leave you with this. Dave Matthews performing his new song right here on CNN this morning in support of millions of Ukrainian refugees.

I'm Paula Reid in Washington, have a great night.

DAVID MATTHEWS, SINGER-SONGWRITER: The cut that just won't heal, the smoke after the fire. As long as we remember, it's as good as real, as good as real.

Something to keep us hopeful, something to tell my baby.

Forever I'm feeling. Impossible, but just maybe. When you think about it, there's something to remind them, something to make them smile. Maybe make things easier, something to tell my baby.

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