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Ukrainians Battle Russians near Kharkiv; Ukrainian Troops, Civilians Hold Out in Steel Plant; Russia Sets Sights on Southern Ukraine; French Elect Next President Sunday; Communal Violence Razes New Delhi Muslim Shops; Oligarchs and Families Die Mysteriously; Ukrainian Artwork at Venice Biennale. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 23, 2022 - 01:00   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.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in Lviv, Ukraine.

Coming up this hour, new drone video shows the brutality and utter destruction of the assault on Ukraine as Russia reveals its goal: taking full control of Donbas and all of the south.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And I'm Michael Holmes in Atlanta.

Polls open in France on Sunday, a stark choice with profound implications far beyond the country's borders.

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SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is now 8:00 am in Lviv, Ukraine.

And we're getting a clearer picture about Russia's goals in Ukraine. Russia's military now confirming its objective is to take full control of Ukraine's Black Sea coast. And key to that is a city that we've been talking about for days now, of Mariupol, where an unknown number of Ukrainian troops as well as civilians are trapped inside a large steel factory, a large steel complex, as you can see it on your screen.

Ukraine's prime minister spoke about the dire situation as he met with U.S. officials in Washington. Have a listen.

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DENYS SHMYHAL, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: The situation in Mariupol is terrible. This is the biggest humanitarian catastrophe during this and maybe during last centuries because many dozens of thousands people, maybe many thousands of people are died in Mariupol. And we will see the terrible atrocities and terrible war crimes in

Mariupol when it will be liberated from Russians.

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SOARES: That's the situation in Mariupol.

In a small town just outside of Kyiv, new video, as you can see there, shows damaged and destroyed homes left by Russian shelling during the first phase of the conflict. And Ukrainian resistance here was said to be pivotal in blocking the Russian advance on the capital.

It looks almost like a tornado has gone through it, doesn't it?

But it is not. Well, Moscow has finally acknowledged casualties from the sinking, meanwhile, of its warship, Moskva. That happened more than a week ago, if you remember. It says one sailor was killed and 27 are missing.

Moscow also claims that 396 remaining crew members were rescued and taken to Crimea.

So Russia's goal now is to take full control of southern Ukraine, creating really a land corridor to Crimea and, on the other end, Moldova. President Zelenskyy speaking in his nightly address to the nation says this only proves that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is, quote, "only the beginning," that they want to capture other countries.

Our Sam Kiley has more now from Dnipro.

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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the latest development coming from the Russian command structures, we've heard from the commander of the Russian central command, a major general, saying that the Russian strategic aim now is not only the denazification or the liberation of Ukraine, but it is focused back not toward the Donbas entirely -- that's the east of the country.

It has now added in the south of Ukraine, perhaps all the way to the border with Moldova because in Transnistria, there is a Russian- controlled enclave there of Russian-speaking people, that conceivably the Russians would like to link up with.

Now if that were possible and he certainly suggested that would be the ultimate aim, there would be a land link all the way between Moldova and Russia, right through Ukrainian territory, including the port city of Odessa.

The reality is that the Russian troops are being held up a long way from Odessa at Mykolaiv and ultimately, I think it's probably more likely that the Russians are putting this kind of propaganda out in order to distract Ukrainian military attention away from their main effort, which they would all agree, is what they would call the capture of the Donbas region, at the very least. Now the importance of Mariupol in all of this is there's still about

1,000 Ukrainian troops there in the steel manufacturing area of that port city, fighting back, fighting hard still, even though they are completely grounded against the Russian forces.

Now they are drawing a lot of Russian forces into that fight, that could otherwise be spared for a push north. At the same time, the Russians have also tried to push south from Izyum.

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KILEY: If they would manage to join those two Russian fronts up, they would be able to encircle the bulk, potentially, of Ukrainian government forces. That's something the Ukrainians are aware of. They are particularly worried about. They also say they've got preparations to deal with it -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Dnipro.

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SOARES: Thanks, Sam.

As Sam was just mentioning, the city of Mariupol is battered, really charred and in parts flattened. Evacuating a city is often a perilous act, thanks, of course, to the constant Russian bombardment. Matt Rivers spoke to a few families who made it out on Friday.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The train was designated just for evacuees. If all went to plan it, would arrive here to Lviv packed with hundreds fleeing war.

Instead, just a handful of families finally found safety, including Paulina and her daughter, Iryna, who fled Mariupol. They are furious there are not more who got out.

She says, "So many should have been evacuated but the Russians kept shelling. They are not human beings. I don't know who gave birth to them. Horrific."

"Horrific" an apt word to describe what Russia has done to the people of Mariupol. Collecting dead bodies amongst the city's wreckage, a task now as commonplace as it is morbid. Some of the dead are loaded into Russian marked trucks while others have been buried in alleged mass graves, seen here in new satellite imagery.

And yet for the tens of thousands who survive here, they need to get out and cannot.

He says, "Humanitarian corridors declared by Russia are only on paper."

Russian troops dominate the vast majority of the city. If they wanted to let people leave safely, they could. And yet several humanitarian corridors agreed to this week have failed, with Ukraine accusing Russia of repeatedly violating cease-fires. It's meant the number of evacuees following the planned route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhya has slowed to a trickle and, even then, danger awaits.

RIVERS: Ukraine's military says this train actually came under fire as it was leaving a station in Zaporizhzhya. Some of the train cars were so badly damaged they had to be left behind. And even the ones that can still travel, have some damage left over. It's another example, Ukraine says, of how Russia continues to target civilians.

RIVERS (voice-over): For those from Mariupol, like Katya Yatsun, these are some of the first moments they have felt safe in weeks.

"We were just thinking about our survival," she says. "I don't know how I'm going to tell my son about such terrifying events."

She says she'll eventually tell her son about Russian military brutality, about the needless destruction of an entire city. And maybe her son will live long enough to return to Mariupol one day; others doubt they'll have their chance.

She says, "I want to believe that I will return there. I think we'll need many years to restore the city after what they've done. And I'm not going to be around that long" -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.

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SOARES: Lives completely upended there.

So what's next, the next move really for Ukrainians?

Russia wants to take the east, as I mentioned, and the south of the country. The Ukrainians are really putting a valiant fight in places like Mariupol.

So how long can each side hold on?

I want to get some perspective from Stuart Crawford, a defense analyst.

Stuart, a very good morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us. Let me get first your thoughts on what we've heard from the Russian side. Initially they had their eye on the east. Now their goal is to take full control of the south to Crimea, creating this land corridor to Moldova's breakaway region.

What does that mean in reality?

Where does this put Putin strategically here?

STUART CRAWFORD, DEFENSE ANALYST: Good morning. Well, I think that the land corridor, if we can deal with that first, is a longer-term aspiration. And I don't think the Russians have the combat power at the moment to be able to achieve that.

However, as your correspondent put it so nicely, it is a distraction for the Ukrainians and probably designed to affix some of their troops around Odessa and Kherson, so they don't join in the general fight elsewhere.

I think we all know what the background to this is; the opening gambit for the Russians failed. They're now reorganizing it in the east. They're trying to take the Donbas. And the declaration by the Russian general about the land corridor is a bit of a distraction at the moment. I don't think they have the means to do it.

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SOARES: OK. So they don't have the means to do it right now.

But is your opinion, then, Stuart, that Putin's basically changing his goalpost?

Or do you think this was his strategy all along?

CRAWFORD: Well, only he knows what his initial strategy was. I have no knowledge and I suspect very few people, apart from his closest circle, will know what the aim was initially.

It looks like it was to decapitate the regime there and install a puppet government but that obviously hasn't happened. I think more importantly is that other people have said beforehand, the Russians need a victory.

NATO and the West so far have supported the Ukraine admirably with sufficient weapons and materiel so that Ukraine does not lose. But I think what we now need to start doing is supplying the sort of weaponry and materiel so that the Ukrainians can look to win.

And that has started already, with tanks from some of the European countries and also from artillery systems from the USA and lots of other things.

SOARES: Yes, and we've seen that announcement from the U.S. in the last 24 hours or so. Stuart, I want to play to our viewers and yourself what President Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Have a listen to this.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Comments by Russian commanders show Russia wants to invade other countries. An attack on Ukraine was only the beginning.

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SOARES: An attack on Ukraine is only the beginning, Stuart.

I mean how concerned should Moldova be here?

CRAWFORD: Well, it shouldn't be concerned in the short to medium term because I don't think the Russians have the means to do it.

However, if Russia isn't stopped in Ukraine, then who knows what will happen next?

We've seen NATO bolstering its forces in the Baltic States and Poland and elsewhere. I think that's a very sensible thing to do.

What I would say is that, at some point, Ukraine needs to stop having to react to what the Russians are doing and take the initiative.

And if I was advising President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian military -- and bear in mind, I'm only a lowly, retired lieutenant colonel, I'd be saying to him, if you've got the means, why don't you shift onto the front foot and launch a strategic offensive, possibly even toward Crimea and threaten to take that back from the Russians?

Which would really put the Russians on the back foot and get inside their decision cycle.

SOARES: So definitely be more offensive than defensive, is what you're saying there, Stuart.

CRAWFORD: Yes, absolutely. I think we've got to upset the Russian plan because, at the moment, everyone's being reactive to what the Russians are doing. I'm not sure that Ukraine has the means or the wherewithal to do it.

But if that were the case, that's what I would be saying. Let's take the initiative here and launch our own offensive where it would hurt the Russians most. And, of course, any threat to Crimea will certainly get the attention of the Kremlin.

SOARES: It should indeed.

Finally, let me ask you about Mariupol. We've seen, you know, the city under intense shelling and fighting for weeks now. It's clear that Russia, Stuart, has most of the city in its control, with the exception of kind of this pocket of resistance. They're refusing to lay down their arms.

And Putin's clearly blocking them, trying to wear them out.

What are the chances of Ukrainian forces and civilians making it out of here, given they're running out of weapons and ammunition and food and water?

CRAWFORD: Well, I mean, they are stuck. It's a standoff because they can't -- the Russians can't get in and winkle them out of the corridors and bunkers under the steel works.

The only way it will work, they're either there for long term until the defenders are starved and have to surrender or until the Russians go away because they're needed elsewhere.

I think that Putin has said seal the place off so that not even a fly can get in or out and that's what they'll be seeking to do. But you know, there's ways and means of getting to people even in those dark situations. And it may be that Ukrainians can supply them sufficiently to help them to hang on. SOARES: Yes, and that's exactly what we've heard from President

Zelenskyy. He said, you know, they'll be fighting to the very end to try and evacuate these people and save everyone that is inside, all the civilians and soldiers that are inside that steel plant.

Stuart Crawford, thank you very much for your insight, sir.

CRAWFORD: Thank you. My pleasure.

SOARES: Coming up, our other top story, French voters prepare to decide who will lead their country for the next five years. But whichever of these two candidates they pick, the implications will be felt far, of course, beyond France.

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SOARES: That story just ahead. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

Two candidates, two visions about the future of France. Incumbent president Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen, wrapping up their final campaign events on Friday. And now it is up to voters to decide on Sunday who will be their next president.

As Melissa Bell reports, the decision will have a profound effect well outside of France.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A final push for votes by both Emmanuel Macron and his far right opponent, Marine Le Pen on Friday, before a media blackout that will last in France until polls close on Sunday.

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BELL: The idea is that people can think about how they're going to vote without extra polls or more campaigning, simply time to reflect on a vote, that will have profound implications, not just for France but beyond its borders as well.

Macron proposing more of the same, further European integration; Le Pen offering something very different to what Macron has done so far, wanting to focus more on France, helping those worst off. That has been central to her pitch throughout the campaign.

You remember the anger that spilled out on the streets of France in the Yellow Vest protests, also protesting against the pension reform that the president had proposed. That will now be the center of what she proposes.

But there will be impacts for Europe, since she's suggesting Europe be reformed into a much looser alliance of sovereign nations. And there will be implications for the war in Ukraine. So two very different visions of France on Sunday night, with implications for France, Europe and the world -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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HOLMES: And a quick programming note for you. French voters go to the polls on Sunday for the second and final round of voting in the presidential election. Please join us Sunday, 8:00 pm Paris time, 2:00 pm on the East Coast of the U.S., for our special live coverage of the French elections.

Foreign travelers wishing to visit Hong Kong will soon be able to, after a two-year ban. Beginning on May 1st, Hong Kong will allow non- residents to enter the city. You must be fully vaccinated and register a negative rapid antigen test before entering state managed quarantine for 14 days. So it's not easy but you can do it.

Meanwhile, some troubling news, statistics from health officials in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. during 2021. More than 415,000 people died from the virus. Only heart disease and cancer had higher death tolls.

Protests erupted in several cities in India this week after authorities targeted Muslim shops for demolition. It follows clashes between Hindus and Muslims that many are blaming on the policies of prime minister Narendra Modi. CNN's Vedika Sud explains.

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VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An angry 30-year old wants to know why Muslims have been targeted, she says, like terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): There is a conspiracy against Muslims.

Why can't Muslims live here?

Are Muslims terrorists?

If Muslims were terrorists, they wouldn't live here.

SUD (voice-over): In the last weeks, these lanes and alleyways of a predominantly Muslim neighborhood in Delhi have been the scene of violence between the capital's Hindus and Muslims.

And a demolition drive: this 40-year-old Muslim shopkeeper saw both unfold before his eyes. He says scores of men clad in saffron, a color synonymous with Hindu nationalism, hijacked a Hindu celebration here.

They were brandishing guns, swords and iron rods, he told us. He says provocative and communal (ph) slogans by the mob in front of a mosque led to clashes between locals and devotees.

SAJID SAIFI, SHOPKEEPER (through translator): There were no police officials escorting the procession. Had they been there, the riot could have been prevented.

SUD (voice-over): In a press conference Monday, the Delhi police said officers were deployed and tried to break up the violence. Four days after the riot, the area remains tense. Saifi says he and several other Muslims were the target of a push by the country's ruling BJP party to destroy their property.

SAIFI (through translator): If we were given prior notice, there would have been less damage to our property. Muslims were targeted. Since the 16th of April, we have been living in terror.

SUD (voice-over): Saifi's claim has been refuted by local officials, who say similar demolitions of unauthorized properties were carried out in the locality last year. But the actions of some prominent members of prime minister Narendra Modi's BJP party have raised questions about whether this war is an act of reprisal.

KAPIL MISHRA, LEADER, BJP: The illegal encroachment, the people running illegal businesses, the jihadis who picked up stones, it is time for Delhi to be rid of this pollution.

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SUD (voice-over): Language like that, including incendiary references to immigrants, has inflamed tensions around India.

And then on Wednesday, bulldozers rolled in, demolishing the so-called illegal encroachments, including the outer structure of the local mosque.

SUD: Ever since the communal clashes Saturday, there have been massive police deployment in this area. According to eyewitness accounts, the anti-encroachment drive Wednesday continued at least for an hour after India's top court put a stay on that demolition drive.

SUD (voice-over): There's been a worrying rise in communal violence across India in the recent years. Delhi itself has seen two communal riots in the last 26 months. Many fear the country is becoming increasingly polarized under Modi's leadership and little is being done to allay the fears of the minority community -- Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.

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HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, "QUEST'S WORLD OF WONDER" up next. For everyone else, the news continues. I'll see you after the break.

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SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Isa Soares coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine. Let me bring you up to date with our top story this hour.

The Russian military now says it aims to gain full control of southern Ukraine and create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea. To that end, Russian shelling of the southern port city of Mariupol is said to be continuous.

Russian troops control much of the city but an unknown number of Ukrainian fighters and civilians are still holding out inside the Azovstal steel plant. Ukraine is accusing Russia of additional war crimes, meanwhile, after more suspected mass graves were discovered near the city.

The U.N. says secretary general Antonio Guterres plans to travel to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with President Putin. He'll then go to Kyiv to consult with Ukrainian leader President Zelenskyy.

Well, investigators in Spain and Russia have a mystery really on their hands, one that may or may not be connected to the war in Ukraine. Two Russian business tycoons and members of their families died in two separate countries all within 24 hours. Now investigators want to know if they're connected. Nic Robertson has the details for you.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Coincidence or Kremlin revenge: 55-year-old Sergey Protosenya and his wife and daughter found dead in their home in Spain Tuesday.

And Vladislav Avayev, a 51-year-old former VP at Gazprombank, and his wife and daughter found dead in their Moscow apartment Monday.

Russia's state news agency says Moscow police are investigating the deaths of Avayev and his family as a murder-suicide; tantamount to saying, "nothing suspicious here."

Spanish police are now guarding Protosenya's luxury house north of Barcelona. An official source close to the investigation says the bodies of his wife and daughter, which showed signs of violence, were found inside the home and Protosenya's body was found outside in the garden.

The neighbors described them as wealthy but often traveling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He had nice cars. I thought they were Romanian from what I understood. And besides, you could see they were people with money.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The investigative source says Spanish police have sealed their probe into the deaths, no leaks that might prejudge their case; two different investigations, two very different jurisdictions.

Historically, Spain's judiciary significantly more transparent than Russia's. Russia's investigators releasing this ultra-short four- second video of the crime scene inside the Avayevs' apartment. The family's employees reportedly alerted a relative that parents and daughter weren't answering calls from within their locked apartment.

Police found all three dead from gunshot wounds.

Suspicious deaths of Russians overseas and at home are nothing new. Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned and killed in London 2006.

A British coroner questioned the apparent suicide in his locked bathroom of oligarch and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky near London in 2013.

In 2018, the attempted murder by deadly Russian nerve agent Novichok of former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter.

So, too, in Russia: Putin critic Alexei Navalny poisoned, nearly killed with Novichok in 2020.

But one Russian death in particular has uncanny parallels with Avayev's, death inside a locked apartment, not entirely dissimilar to Boris Berezovsky's death. In 2018, aspiring journalist and occasional Kremlin critic Maxim Borodin fell from his fifth floor balcony in Yekaterinburg, 1,000 miles from Moscow.

ROBERTSON: His neighbors found his body here, crumpled in the street, his death is a mystery.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): I covered Borodin's death. When officials spoke, many felt there was a cover-up.

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ROBERTSON: A spokesman for the regional interior ministry tells us that Borodin's apartment was locked from the inside, a fact, he says, that indicates no one left the apartment. Most likely, he says, there were no strangers in there.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Borodin's journalist colleagues didn't buy the official line, either.

EKATERINA ORSEEVA, DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "NOVY DEN" (through translator): According to our sources, this is obviously not verified. But they're saying that it was a targeted action on someone's order.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): There is no evidence Protosenya or Avayev were Putin critics. There is evidence, however, that, despite Kremlin demands for loyalty among the elite, some previously silent Putin allies are coming out against him.

Today, as Putin's war polarizes Russians for and against, suspicions of shady Kremlin killings will likely linger long after Moscow's investigators close Avayev's case -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Brussels.

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SOARES: And I'll be back at the top of the hour with much more. But there's much more ahead. We'll tell you about Wall Street's bad day on Friday and explain why that has traders feeling nervous. That's just ahead. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

Former President Donald Trump told "The Wall Street Journal" that his relationship with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy remains good. This after the audio recordings of McCarthy criticizing Trump in the days after the January 6th riot were published by "The New York Times." Here's McCarthy just days after the insurrection.

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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: But let me be very clear to all of you, and I've been very clear to the president. He bears responsibilities for his words and actions. No ifs, ands or buts.

I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened?

Does he feel bad about what happened?

He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. And he needs to acknowledge that.

I've had it with this guy. What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that, and nobody should defend it.

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HOLMES: Those tapes emerged after the release of another recorded call that showed McCarthy lied when denying reports he considered telling Trump to resign.

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REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Is there any chance?

Are you hearing that he might resign?

Is there any reason to think that might happen?

MCCARTHY: I've had a few discussions. My gut tells me no. I'm seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven't talked to him in a couple days.

From what I know of him, I mean, you guys all know him, too.

Do you think he'd ever back away?

The only discussion I would have with him is that I think this will pass and it would be my recommendation you should resign. I mean, that would be my take but I don't think he would take it. But I don't know.

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HOLMES: Republican sources telling CNN that McCarthy has been maneuvering behind the scenes to contain the fallout from all of this. He spoke with Trump by phone on Thursday and spoke with key Republicans throughout the day on Friday.

U.S. markets plunged on Friday amid fears of a hike in interest rates, the Dow falling nearly 1,000 points, about 2.8 percent. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also down more than 2.5 percent.

Markets tumbled after the Federal Reserve chairman said a possible half-point rise in interest rates will be, quote, "on the table" in the Fed's May meeting.

They hope raising interest rates will get inflation under control but that could also impact consumers, already hit by rising food and energy costs, driven by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Richard Quest explains.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: The market has ended the week truly unhappy, with more worries about rising inflation and policymakers now talking about raising interest rates faster and more harshly than before.

So there's a realization that the good times have gone, for the time being. In the United States, as the prospect of a half-percentage point rate rise from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the same again in subsequent meetings.

Here at the IMF and World Bank, they've been talking about nothing other than inflation and how to tame it. And as the war in Ukraine continues, so the prospect of higher oil and gas prices simply won't go away.

Put it all together and the downgrades of economic growth from the World Bank and the IMF; the unhappiness of investors, wondering where money can be made; even the streaming problems of companies like Netflix, which are rewriting the rules of entertainment, it has led to investors basically saying, for the time being, the market is not the place to be.

And what's more, no one can see any improvement in the near future -- Richard Quest, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Ukrainian artists are fighting to represent their culture to the world.

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HOLMES: We'll follow one team's journey as they escape war and present their work at the Venice Biennale. That story coming up.

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HOLMES (voice-over): The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra is back for the first time since the war in Ukraine began. It kicked off a European tour at the Warsaw Philharmonic on Thursday. The musicians have been taking refuge in the city while rehearsing.

The male members got special permission from the government to leave Ukraine to perform. For many in the orchestra, this tour also a political protest against Vladimir Putin and the war itself.

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HOLMES: And it has become increasingly clear, of course, that Russian leadership rejects the very idea of an independent Ukrainian state. In the Kremlin's eyes, there is no true, distinct Ukrainian culture or history.

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HOLMES: It's all part of Russia, according to Vladimir Putin. Because of that, it may never have been more important to present Ukrainian artwork to the world. Rosie Tomkins have more on a Ukrainian art team that escaped the fighting and is presenting their work at the Venice Biennale.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Any war has a cultural background. And this war is different because of two different cultures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Ukrainian art has been overshadowed for a very long time by Russia. The cultural field has to be a battlefield as well. We have to fight.

ROSIE TOMKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a small team, led by three Ukrainian curators and one artist, fought to present their work at one of the world's most prestigious art fairs, the Venice Biennale.

PAVLO MAKOV, ARTIST, UKRAINE PAVILION: Well, you know, when your son getting close to you at 5 o'clock in the morning and saying (INAUDIBLE), you know, definitely don't think about your projects in Venice.

Describing quite a serious decision because at that time, I realized that it would be important, really, for the Ukraine to be represented on the cultural scene. Even have problems with the politics. You can have problems with the economy, even deep and huge problems.

But still, you can survive. But if you have -- if you don't have culture, there is no nation. There's no country.

TOMKINS (voice-over): As Ukraine was thrown into crisis, the team behind the art pavilion had to prioritize personal safety as well as their mission. Eventually, they would plan routes to Venice, mostly driving across Europe with their families, their belongings and parts of the artwork, "Fountain of Exhaustion."

MARIA LANKO, CURATOR, UKRAINE PAVILION (voice-over): In the first day of the war, I'm a little bit shifted. I didn't have anybody to take care about besides myself perhaps and our project. (INAUDIBLE) head west. Roads were jammed and very dangerous to drive at the time. It took me around six days to reach the border with Romania.

TOMKINS (voice-over): Meanwhile, Pavlo, having spent six days in a bomb shelter in the city center, evacuated from Kharkiv to Vienna with his wife, a friend and her mother and his own 92-year-old mother.

MAKOV: And I was quite blocked (ph), you know. I said, Mom, you know, I'm 63 years old. I'm the oldest man in the family. So you know what it's like in Kyiv. Let's go and go to the car, please. And we have to leave.

TOMKINS (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) Kyiv to Lviv. She was heavily pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): I didn't want to move. I thought it was pretty scary. You know, we heard explosions and gunshots almost every day. The trip took three days. We received a lot of support to accommodate us, to help us.

TOMKINS (voice-over): Borys also fled to Lviv, finally arriving in Venice only a few days before the launch.

BORYS FILONENKO, CURATOR, UKRAINE PAVILION: Every man in Ukraine will go to battlefield. But we have many roles in this war. I got the letter from ministry of culture to represent Ukraine. For me, it's not easy to be here. But I will come back in three weeks, to Ukraine.

TOMKINS (voice-over): In the land, Maria and Pavlo they found a company to rebuild part of the installation that had been left behind with the original design team in Kyiv.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then we finally reached our destination, Venice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good to be together.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly. It's good to be together --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one believes it's a perfect size (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pablo Makov is one of the most interesting and important artists from Kharkiv.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He belongs to the first kind of post Soviet and independent Ukrainian generation of artists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This artwork was made in the local context of the city of Kharkiv in the middle of '90s.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city infrastructure (INAUDIBLE) started to deteriorate. The city of exhaustion of the big city, which exhausted itself on many levels, it was obvious to Pavlo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no life. It's just going down, down, down. And then this washes off itself.

TOMKINS (voice-over): The concept inspired over a dozen works of art but none have functioned with flowing water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we approached him, asking if he would like to produce it finally in Venice, for him it was the beginning of a completely new story. For us, for the whole team, for the artist, it was extremely important to produce it the way it was without any minor changes, without any damage, without any adjustments, just to show that the artwork is there, no matter what.

MAKOV: All this new attention that we are getting now, you know, it's a little bit painful because we do understand that this (INAUDIBLE) is paid by blood and victims in our country now.

[01:55:00]

MAKOV: Russia is saying now, Ukraine is not a country. It has no culture. It doesn't exist. You know, culture is a national security question. Culture is how we can live together, how all these different individuals can find rules that act as a society.

I don't feel myself as an artist here. I much more feel myself as a citizen, who has his duty to represent his country. And that's it. As all of the curators, we have the same idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, it's an optimistic symbol. But at the end, the very presence of it in Venice, I think, it will be (INAUDIBLE) the show that Ukraine is capable of doing anything, not just hiding in the shelter and just surviving but really new things, build future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I could stop the water right now. But it might stop the next one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Our live coverage from Lviv, Ukraine, and here in Atlanta continues after a break.