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Zelenskyy Says Blinken And Austin Will Visit Kyiv Tomorrow; Zelenskyy Repeats Calls For More Weapons, Aid; Former Chief Economic Adviser To Russian President, Andrei Illarionov, Discusses Putin's Strategy; House Panel: Meadows Was Warned 1/6 Could Turn Violent; Survivors: Russians Rounded Up Ukrainians At Gunpoint, Forced Villagers Into School, Basement; Irpin Mayor: Russians Planted Mines In Playgrounds, Children's Toys. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 23, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:22]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: The clock's striking midnight tonight here in Ukraine and the breaking news this hour.

President Zelenskyy says that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv Sunday. It's a highly-anticipated, high-level visit to this country at war.

Good evening. I'm Jim Sciutto reporting tonight from Lviv in western Ukraine. I want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. This is a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM.

President Zelenskyy says that U.S. officials will soon be on the ground in Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I don't think this is a big secret. The people from the U.S. are coming to us tomorrow. I shall be meeting with the State Secretary Mr. Blinken, and the Defense Secretary. And we will be waiting for the time when the security situation allows for the president to come and talk to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: In fact, a high-level visit to a country at war would be deliberately kept secret until after the arrival those officials' arrival. A public announcement in advance sure to have surprised the State and Defense Departments' security details. It is not clear why Zelenskyy chose to share this information.

Today here in Ukraine, Orthodox Easter Sunday. Right now, a curfew is in effect across several regions as officials warn of increased attacks during holiday celebrations.

In the south, at least eight people are dead, several other injured after Russian forces struck residential buildings and a military facility in the key port city of Odessa.

And in Mariupol today, Russian troops thwarted yet again civilian evacuations from that port city. This as we're getting new video from inside that steel plant where so many people are hunkering down purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers delivering items and food for women and children in a bunker there.

All this as Ukraine is fighting back on the battlefield. Officials say that Ukrainian forces struck a Russian command post in the Kherson in the south killing at least two Russian generals. The death toll for senior Russian officers has been very high in this conflict.

We are following the latest both in Washington at the White House and in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv tonight.

Let's begin with CNN international correspondent Matt Rivers. He is in Kyiv. Matt, this is a major reveal by President Zelenskyy of information that would deliberately be kept secret for security reasons. The Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin making their way there.

What more did the Ukrainian president have to say?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a huge surprise, Jim. I think one that not a lot of reporters in that room thought was coming. And you and I have been having conversations over the past week or so talking about when, if we would see senior U.S. leadership come here to Kyiv like we have seen so many other senior leaders from Europe come here.

And it now appears that it is going to happen on Orthodox Easter Sunday, which is now today here in Kyiv. Zelenskyy talking about what he expects out of that meeting, saying he will lay out exactly the kind of weapons that he says he needs in order to immediately, as you said, start a counteroffensive, basically trying to retake all of the territory he said that Russia has taken from Ukraine.

He acknowledged in his remarks the change in pace in which U.S. weapons are being delivered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: I see the change in the speed of response on the part of the U.S. and if the speed is increasing as we are promised and if the steps coincide with the words as is the case with any good leader and people, we will be able to quicker reoccupy our territories in the east of our state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: And this will be interesting to see, Jim, when we get word about this visit tomorrow, when we see the visit of these leaders. Again, as you mentioned, highly unusual to announce a visit of this high level, this top level security that is needed here this far in advance. It will be interesting to see if we get any video of the meeting before they actually are wheels' up both Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Meanwhile here on the ground in Ukraine, air strikes in Odessa as you mentioned off the top, with at least eight people killed, including a 3-month-old child.

And during this press conference, Jim, President Zelenskyy got emotional at least two times. One of which talking about the death in Odessa basically saying he feels the pain of every parent in Ukraine. This is important reminder about what's going on in the country as these two leaders set to make an important visit.

[17:04:55]

SCIUTTO: No question, these are deliberate attacks on civilian targets by Russian forces which have happened every day in this country multiple times but happening on Easter weekend, the Orthodox Easter weekend.

Matt Rivers in Kyiv, thanks so much.

Let's go to Washington now. CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns at the White House. Joe, as you know, this kind of information about senior level visits to war torn countries kept very secret for operational security yet the Ukrainian president revealing this in advance.

Have you gotten any comment from the White House or the Defense Department? Any indication that because of the security concerns this trip might be reconsidered?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this is very closely held information as you just indicated and we have been reaching out across the Biden administration to try to get some confirmation or otherwise about what President Zelenskyy said. And so far, we have pretty much gotten nothing.

What we are getting is a referral back to a statement from Jen Psaki, the press secretary, on Monday when she indicated a couple of things. First that President Biden has no plans to go to Ukraine. And number two, that there will be no outline, no preview, no details of who might be going to Ukraine from the administration and when. So that, she said, is purely for security reasons.

That said, there is an awareness here at the White House that there have been multiple top leaders of NATO countries who have already gone to Ukraine and the question was becoming when the United States was going to send one, someone just to show solidarity for the government of Ukraine.

Of course, President Zelenskyy continues to push for a visit from President Biden himself, but so far, we're told no plans, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, it would be remarkable for such a long anticipated, long desired visit to be disrupted by disclosing that information in advance.

Joe Johns, at the White House thanks so much.

Joining me now to discuss, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker. He also served as U.S. Special envoy for Ukraine. He's now senior adviser for the Atlantic Council.

Ambassador, it's good to have you this evening. I wonder, You've been involved in high level visits like this, yourself, repeatedly through your career.

Tell me what you would advise the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense under these circumstances? You know that these are considered dangerous visits and this is information deliberately kept very private.

KURT VOLKER, SENIOR ADVISER, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Sure. Let's face it. President Zelenskyy is in Kyiv every day and he's target number one. So he is braving this out.

Secondly, other foreign leaders, prime ministers, foreign ministers, presidents have visited Kyiv already and more are going to do so. So I think it would be exceptional if the United States did not proceed with the visit.

Of course, it's unfortunate that the information was leaked out. I'm sure that there will be some discussions about that behind closed doors. But at this stage, I don't think there's any reason to turn around.

And moreover, the symbolism of secretary of state and secretary of defense appearing in Kyiv with President Zelenskyy and making clear full U.S. support and commitment to Ukraine's success in this war is extraordinarily important.

SCIUTTO: Tell me -- to that point, tell me about the significance of having both of them come, right? You have your senior diplomat in the Secretary of State Blinken and you have your senior most civilian military official in the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Why that combination in your view?

VOLKER: Right. Well, it conveys commitment. It conveys military commitment to Ukraine. It also conveys commitment to Ukraine's international relationships. Its relationship with NATO. Its relationship with European Union. The involvement in diplomacy. The effort to seek peace. It's a powerful combination to have the two of them there. And I think it does convey very strong commitment.

And let me add. I think that this is relatively new. I think when President Biden visited NATO a month ago, it was not so clear cut, that the U.S. was all in. But when Secretary Blinken went there two weeks later, the tone was different and now we see the accelerated delivery of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine and I think we are in a different phase of U.S. Commitment to this now.

SCIUTTO: Yes, two $800 million weapons packages in the span of just over a week. We heard another comment from the Ukrainian president in the same press conference saying that Blinken and Austin better not come empty- handed pressuring them more publicly for more aid. What do you think the function of a statement like that is given the acceleration of aid in recent days and weeks from the U.S. already?

[17:09:54]

VOLKER: I think President Zelenskyy knows very well that the U.S. has been turning on the gas here already, been accelerating security assistance.

It probably is just a reflection of the pressure that he's under with - as we saw, with bomb attacks on Odessa. People being killed. The extraordinary, extraordinary siege of Mariupol with 100,000 civilians trapped and the Russians fully intent on starving them out.

This is the kind of pressure that President Zelenskyy is under. But I do think that the U.S. Is providing the kind of support now that will make a fundamental difference.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, tell us with Russia's new focus on the east and the south, new focus not just attention, but military assets. How does that war go now? Because of course, you have the U.S. and NATO trying to back up the Ukrainians for a new kind of battle in the east. An armor on armor; artillery on artillery battle. How does that play out in your view?

VOLKER: Right. Well, we can't forget just how poorly organized with poor command and control, poor morale the Russians had when they were trying to take Kyiv. That has not improved.

They've also brought in personnel with less training and experience. They've brought in secondary equipment after having a lot of the first tier equipment destroyed. They're going to have a very hard time organizing themselves and advancing. And in the meantime, Ukrainians are highly motivated, highly effective with the equipment that they've been given and I think that there is a genuine chance that they will continue to roll back Russian gains.

The areas where this is important is east of Kharkiv to relieve the pressure on that city, breaking the land bridge in order to try to relieve Mariupol. And also pushing back on Russia's occupation of Kherson. These are the strategic objectives for Ukraine.

For the west, I think that we need to provide as much relief as we can. We ought to be looking at what we can do for freedom of navigation in the Black Sea again and we ought to be looking at whether there is any possibility to orchestrate some kind of arial relief -- an air lift to Mariupol. What the risks are of doing so and if the Ukrainians could pull it off.

SCIUTTO: Yes. That's been another very public request from Ukrainian officials.

Ambassador Kurt Volker, thanks so much for joining us tonight. VOLKER: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, President Zelenskyy repeated his call, as we mentioned, for more weapons from the west today. What could be a game changer on the ground in Ukraine? That's coming up.

Also ahead, We will speak to a former adviser to Russian President Putin. What is behind his mindset at this stage of the war and what would it take to stop the invasion in Ukraine?

Plus, a firsthand view from the front lines of this battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to be honest with you. The things that we're seeing, I don't think I have the time to process it yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: A Ukrainian volunteer medic will join us live.

Our special live coverage continues right after a quick break.

[17:13:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his primary request to the U.S. and western allies is still simple -- weapons, weapons and more weapons.

I spoke with Anton Herashchenko. He's the adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister early about what Ukraine says it needs most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Mr. Herashchenko, you're in the Maidan where Ukrainians stood up for their freedom, for their independence years ago. Do you think Ukraine can do that again successfully? Can stand up against Russia?

ANTON HERASHCHENKO, ADVISOR TO UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): Yes. Ukrainians have stood up twice to the pro Russian regime of Viktor Yanukovych. But now we have a much bigger challenge and we need your help. We need the help of the United States particularly with weapons. We need even more weapons to expand this offensive.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. and NATO are sending weapons, but Russia's still gaining territory in the east, in the southeast. They have most of Ukraine's coastline. They want all of it. Are you getting enough weapons to stop Russia?

HERASHCHENKO: No. What the U.S. and allies are providing absolutely is not enough. It is not enough at the moment. I will give you one example. During the Second World War, President Roosevelt provided the Lend Lease Act and he gave Britain assistance worth $390 billion until 1948. Now compare that to $300 to $800 million being given now. That's not enough against Russia because Russia is receiving one billion euro form its oil and gas from Europe per day.

SCIUTTO: Something called the Buy Me A Fighter Jet campaign -- a Web site to in effect raise money. Each jet cost $25 million. Is it working? Are you getting some of the world's wealthiest people to help?

HERASHCHENKO: Well this campaign was actually started by Sean Penn. He wanted to raise $300 million to buy planes for Ukraine. But what I would prefer is that the U.S. and NATO allies would give us their Soviet era airplanes that NATO operates. Our pilots know how to fly these planes.

We would prefer to use the American planes because they would be better against Russian aggression, but it would take several months to train our pilots. We would need the will of the American people to give us these planes. The U.S. and NATO have about 70 Soviet era planes. That's what we need.

SCIUTTO: After the war, what will it take to rebuild this country? How many years? How much money?

HERASCHENKO: To rebuild Ukraine, we will need a lot of money. The Ukrainian government estimates that we will need about $600 billion U.S. That is the extent of the damage that Putin has dealt to Ukraine.

We hope that the U.S. and its allies will give Ukraine $00 billion. That's the money that flows in from Russian banks and the Russian central bank. That will help rebuild Ukraine.

[17:19:59]

HERASHCHENKO: We have hundreds of bridges blown up. Tens of thousands of buildings destroyed. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians killed.

SCIUTTO: Mr. Herashchenko, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I wish you good luck in all that you're doing.

HERASHCHENKO: Thank you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SCIUTTO: To speak more about the course of this war, joining me now, retired Major General Paul Eaton, former commanding general Coalition Military Assistance Training team in Iraq. Good to have you back, sir.

I want to ask you about the current flow of weapons to the Ukrainians. Ukrainians have understandable urgency. They need help to fight Russia. A bigger force.

You hear from U.S. officials increasing urgency virtually every day about weapons. But there is a sort of never enough quality to some of these pleas. Is the U.S. and western weapons support behind, in your view, what Russia (SIC) needs or is it meeting the need?

MAJ. GEN. PAUL EATON, FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL COALITION MILITARY ASSISTANCE TRAINING TEAM: Jim, thank you for having me. There's a saying in the military that more is better, but it's actually more is not enough. You cannot have enough to distribute across the battlefield because you have pockets of requirements that vary based on the geography of the battle field.

So what Ukrainians need is actually a whole lot more and a whole lot faster. We're doing a brilliant job. NATO and America in particular. We do need to continue to ratchet this up and we're getting better, faster over time.

So they need more aircraft. Ukrainians, their pilots have done a stunning job of denying not just air supremacy, but air superiority to the Russian air force.

So we've got a great group of Ukrainian pilots. We need to get them aircraft. Long range fires, (INAUDIBLE) counter battery radar, we need to deny the Russian strength of artillery. And that whole erases (ph) artillery from the battlefield is a requirement. President Zelenskyy needs mobile defense -- go ahead.

SCIUTTO: Sorry to interrupt. I was just going to say, there are two different views of the battlefield now in terms of both that aid. Ukrainian capabilities and also whether Russia has solved some of the problems they had in the north.

You speak to some folks who said Ukrainians have the advantage in the east, able to push the Russians back. Others including the U.K. Prime Minister who fears that the Russians can grind Ukrainian military forces down. Where do you stand?

EATON: So what the Ukrainians have demonstrated is that their troops have the will, they have the capacity to adapt and they are infinitely better at mobile warfare than the Russians have proven to be. They have interior lines.

We are rapidly moving mobility through the hands of the Ukrainian army so that they can mass where required. As I mentioned, counter battery radar and long range fires are necessary to remove the Russian strength of indirect fires.

We also need to -- and Ambassador Volker brought up freedom of navigation. The navy -- NATO's naval forces need to be brought to bear to influence military outcome. I'm not saying attack. I'm saying that they need to deny free access. They need to deny the fact that the Russians think the Black Sea is their lake.

SCIUTTO: Final question before we go. You've heard that President Zelenskyy has released the information that Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin on their way to Kyiv perhaps as soon as today. If you were advising, when you were in Iraq, you had high level visits and that information kept secret until those folks were on the ground for their security.

If you were advising the Defense Secretary for today about whether he should keep his appointment in Kyiv, would you say he should?

EATON: Well, I know how General Austin will react and I have extreme faith in the wonderful diplomats that we have. These are men of courage, women of courage. Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin I'm sure will be front and center where they need to be. And I'm not sure what the dynamics are in the reveal of the information, but these two delegations are going to make us very proud.

SCIUTTO: Major General Paul Eaton, always good to have you on. Thank you.

EATON: Jim, thank you very much.

[17:24:49]

SCIUTTO: Still ahead this hour, as Russia's offensive pushes ahead in the east and in the south, are there any hints of what Putin's next move will be?

We're going to speak to someone who knows him, one of his former close advisers. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Right now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doubling down on his willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy says he does not have the luxury to be afraid as his people stand tall in the face of Russia's continuing invasion.

Joining me now to discuss, Andrei Illarionov, a former chief economic adviser to Putin. He resigned in 2005 and has been a critic of Putin since.

SCIUTTO: Good to have you back, sir.

[17:30:00]

I do want the begin with the news tonight --

ANDREI ILLARIONOV, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO -- and that is Zelenskyy revealing that sometime today that U.S. senior officials, the Secretary of State Blinken, Secretary of Defense Austin will be visiting Kyiv, something that a senior U.S. official has not yet done two months into this war.

I wonder how will Putin, do you think, react to a visit by senior U.S. leaders like that, particularly a show of force with the top diplomat and top official? How does he view it?

ILLARIONOV: Good evening, Jim.

It's very good news that the high U.S. officials would visit Kyiv. After the many from European countries, including the Polish president, president of Baltic countries, president of European Union, prime minister of United Kingdom have visited Kyiv.

It is overdue for U.S. officials to visit Kyiv and to have talks with President Zelenskyy and with Ukrainian officials to express their real support to Ukraine and reach agreement to provide more support for Ukraine in this war against Russia.

What would be the reaction of Mr. Putin is not much interesting because that's the business of Ukraine and Ukrainian allies, what to do, how to resist these aggressions.

What is necessary to provide Ukraine more economic support and more military support.

Just today, the IMF, International Monetary Fund, has released data for expecting decline in GDP in Ukraine and in Russia. According to these data, Ukrainian GDP is going to fall by 35 percent and Russian by 8.5 percent.

What it means, it means that Ukraine will lose substantial portion of economic potential, about 70 billion U.S. dollars. And it needs substantial economic resources, financial resources, and military resources to sustain this war.

And it means that the economic pressure from the Western countries against Russia is not enough.

SCIUTTO: We've spoken about that a number of times. You have urged smart sanctions, particularly on the energy sector.

European officials say, for instance, they're going to reduce their dependence on Russian natural gas by two-thirds by end of the year, but that's eight months away from now.

When does Europe have to stop its purchases of Russian gas and oil?

ILLARIONOV: Yes. Full embargo for Russian oil and gas can wait for another eight months. But introduction of accounts and smart embargo must not wait. It can be done overnight.

And it means that while Russia would continue to provide energy to European countries, the proceeds from these energy exports will not go back to Putin. It will go to Ukraine to support Ukraine in this war against Russia.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's a smart idea that you have expressed before.

Before we go, Zelenskyy says he's still willing to meet with Putin. In fact, he says he has no choice. Putin will meet with the U.N. secretary-general next week. He's visiting Moscow.

You know Putin's mindset through this. Is there value in these face- to-face meetings with Putin? Can these people convince him, pressure him to back off? Or does he bulldoze ahead?

ILLARIONOV: I have serious doubts that meetings between the general secretary of the United Nations and Putin will produce any result. But I have even more doubt that this time now for President Zelenskyy and Putin.

I think, time permitting, direct meeting with Zelenskyy could arrive when Ukrainian forces will inflict substantial damage to Russian troops on the Ukrainian territory.

When they achieve military victory over the aggressor. Maybe that time will be right time for direct negotiations between Zelenskyy and Putin. Not before that.

SCIUTTO: Win on a battlefield first, talk later.

Andrei Illarionov, thanks so much. Good to have you back.

ILLARIONOV: Thank you very much, sir.

SCIUTTO: A quick programming note. Make sure you catch the powerful, inspiring, unbelievable true story of the man who took on Putin, lived through poisoning to expose the truth. It's Sunday. The award-winning CNN film, "NAVALNY," airs tomorrow right here on CNN.

[17:34:58]

And still ahead, an ex-White House official said then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was warned about possible violence on January 6th. What did he do about it? The newly revealed testimony coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: New evidence from the January 6th committee reveals the White House was warned before the U.S. capitol attack there could be violence that day and Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, pushed forward with the rally anyway.

[17:40:01]

CNN Capitol Hill reporter, Melanie Zanona, joins me now live.

Melanie, so the committee here, it wants a judge to throw out a lawsuit through all this that Meadows has against them. What's the status of that? What are the details from these new revelations?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: That's right. Mark Meadows has refused to comply with the subpoena to appear before the Select Committee and so they released a trove of damning new details last night to show the courts why they want Meadows to testify.

And among those new revelations, an aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, testified that Mark Meadows was, indeed, told that January 6th had the potential to turn violent and yet he pressed ahead with both the rally and efforts to overturn the election on the floors of Congress anyway.

She also testified that she overheard the White House counsel's office saying that a scheme to use alternate electors was not sound.

And she also testified just how involved Republican lawmakers were in the effort to subvert the election.

In fact, Congressman Scott Perry, of Pennsylvania, was frantically texting Meadows the day after Christmas about this plot to install a loyalist in DOJ leadership. That is Jeffrey Clark. They also wanted to give Jeffrey Clark a deputy underneath him.

And I want to read for you some of those text messages, which were revealed for the first time last night.

On December 26, 2020, Perry texted, "Mark, just checking in as time continues to countdown, 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days until inauguration. We've got to get going."

Then again, on December 26th, Perry texted, "Mark, you should call Jeff. I just got off the phone with him and he explained to me why the principal deputy won't work especially with the FBI. They will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done."

Now it's worth noting here that the Select Committee has also asked Scott Perry to testify before the committee. He, too, has refused to cooperate.

But unlike Mark Meadows, the Select Committee has not yet issued a subpoena for Scott Perry or any other Republican lawmakers to date -- Jim?

SCIUTTO: Melanie Zanona, the revelations, just remarkable.

Thanks so much.

Still ahead, CNN goes to eastern Ukraine where civilians says that Russian soldiers there used them as human shields. It's a remarkable story. Hear from some of the survivors firsthand. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:52]

SCIUTTO: Russian forces are now focused on the east and south but left a trail of stories of ruthless treatment after withdrawing from the north.

We're learning more about the horrors that Russian forces caused in the northern turn of Chernihiv. There, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russian occupiers forced some 400 civilians into a village school and locked them in a basement for three weeks.

CNN's Ed Lavandera went there. He spoke with some of the survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War stopped time here. Bombs and artillery scorched this village in northern Ukraine. Russian occupation ravaged the minds of its people.

The story of what happened in Yahidne is just emerging, revealing how the Russian army held this village hostage for more than 30 days.

Sofia shows us the underground bunker in her shed where she first hid from the fighting. She said she had food stored here that the Russians ate. This is where she slept.

Sofia says Russian soldiers went door to door rounding people up and taking them at gunpoint into the basement of the village school.

(on camera): Sofia tells us that when the Russian soldiers moved them all into the basement of the school building, they were put down there and the soldiers told them they were being put in the basement to die.

(voice-over): A woman named Natalie took us into the basement where she was trapped.

"I was in a stupor," Natalie tells me. "I was sitting there, praying, hoping it would all stop soon."

(on camera): Residents tell us there were about 350 people held hostage in the basement of this school building. Men, women and children forced to live in these horrific conditions.

In fact, it was so strangulating, there were so little air circulation that one resident told us that 12 elderly people died here because they couldn't breathe. And their bodies were left while the fighting raged outside.

(voice-over): These are some of the only known images captured in the school's basement. The faces say it all.

(on camera): She's telling me that about 35 people slept in this small room. Nobody could lay down. They slept kind of sitting with their knees against their chest.

(voice-over): The rooms are littered with makeshift beds, schoolbooks, and Russian troop meal boxes. But it is the art on the walls that stops you in your tracks. This is how the children passed the time, colorful drawings on a canvas of anguish.

(on camera): The people who were trapped down here etched names on to this concrete wall. They marked the days with a calendar, crossing out the days as they went by.

Everything down here has the feel of a World War II-era concentration camp.

(voice-over): Above the basement, Russian soldiers took over the school building. Residents say they were used as human shields. They knew the Ukrainian military wouldn't fire at the school with civilians inside.

[17:50:05]

Olena grabs food from a humanitarian delivery truck and takes us to her home. Russian soldiers threw grenades through her windows and defecated on

the house floors. She was also held hostage in the school basement with her 1-year-old daughter.

(on camera): Did you think you were going to survive that?

(voice-over): "I thought my child would not survive," she tells me. "I asked them to let me out so the child could breathe fresh air because she felt bad. They said let her die. We don't care."

(on camera): Sofia, how did you feel when you got out of the basement of the school?

(voice-over): She says one of the villagers open the basement door and said the Russians left. The trapped villagers were surprised.

"In the morning, our guys entered the village," she said. "We cried. We hugged them and cried."

(on camera): What will you tell your daughter about this experience?

(voice-over): "Nothing," she says. Her daughter will not remember it and she will tell her nothing.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Yahidne, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: We have to remember, when we watch stories like that, these are not isolated stories. They characterize how Russian forces operated not just in that town there but many towns and cities across this country and continue to. We all must to continue to bear witness. And we'll do our best.

Still ahead, in order to quickly clear mines, first Ukrainian officials have to find them. The devastating places officials are locating these bombs, including inside children's playgrounds. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:56:19]

SCIUTTO: There are new images into CNN tonight, and they are hard to see. Significant destruction, like a tornado tore through there.

This is in Moschun, a town just outside the capital city of Kyiv, showing the scars of the nature of this Russian' invasion. Civilians, as targets.

Entire blocks of homes, we should note -- those are not military targets, they are homes -- leveled. Hit by heavy shelling.

One more example of another suburb, another village, another community in this country attacked. This one, just outside the capital. I recently spoke to the mayor of Irpin, another hard-hit suburb of

Kyiv nearby. He told me that additional evidence of war crimes is being uncovered there every day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Mayor, what is the situation in Irpin now? And have you found further evidence of Russian' war crimes there?

OLEKSANDR MARKUSHYN, MAYOR, IRPIN, UKRAINE (through translation): The situation in Irpin is under control. At the moment, we have almost finished clearing the level.

We are finishing mine clearing. Unfortunately, just an hour ago, we had an unpleasant incident. A truck was coming in with supplies, and it blew up on a mine. Unfortunately, the driver died.

So we are having those unpleasant surprises the Russians have left behind. Every day, we find booby-trapped children's toys, booby- trapped bicycles. We just found a sandbox that was booby-trapped, children's things.

So a child would come and try to pick something up and they would die. So I believe this is a war crime.

SCIUTTO: Do you have any teams there, Ukrainian or foreign teams that are able to clear any mines and booby traps?

MARKUSHYN: (through translation): Yes, we are clearing these mines. It was unfortunate for the truck I mentioned earlier. It went off into an uncleared area.

We are finding these things. We have a local team of mine cleaners but we are also helped by the military. They are giving us their mine- clearing teams.

And, unfortunately, we are finding these surprises all the time. In private areas, private houses, on the roofs of buildings, on apartments, on children's playgrounds.

But, yes, we are work on it. We are working on clearing it all.

SCIUTTO: There's a lot of talk now about war crimes' investigations. You have people in the international community even accusing Vladimir Putin of being a war criminal.

Do you have any confidence that the people behind these alleged crimes will face justice?

MARKUSHYN: (through translation): I absolutely believe that Putin is a war criminal. And he must face justice in The Hague. But also the people following orders. How can you follow such an order to kill children, to kill women?

And they did kill children and women. We have evidence. But a couple of women and children were trying to leave Irpin, and their own vehicles and two to four vehicles were shot.

The people following these orders, they are war criminals and they must face justice.

SCIUTTO: Russian forces have now withdrawn from the Kyiv area. Many of them, moving to the east.

Do you feel that they will come back, if they make gains in the east, they will try to come back and attack Irpin, the Kyiv region, again?

MARKUSHYN: (through translation): We are always facing this threat there could be troops coming from Belarus, from that direction, and we are prepared for it.

[17:59:52]

Now, Irpin is a city that held on and stopped the enemy from advancing on Kyiv. We fought a battle. And as a result of this battle, the city is 50 percent destroyed. But we are building up our defenses.

We were victorious over the second-largest army in the world.