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Ukrainians Battle Russians Near Kharkiv; Russia Sets Sights On Southern Ukraine; Ukrainian Prime Minister: Mariupol "Biggest Humanitarian Catastrophe" In A Century; French Elect Next President Sunday; Village Held Hostage By Russian Troops; Mccarthy Audio Reveals Criticism Of Trump; Ukrainian Artwork At Venice Biennale. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 23, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): So many should have been evacuated but the Russians kept shelling. They are not human beings.
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BRUNHUBER: Harrowing stories from those lucky enough to escape the besieged city Mariupol are coming in to CNN. We'll speak to one resident who left Mariupol calling it, quote, "hell on Earth."
Plus we're live in Paris, where French voters prepare to decide on their next president.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene becomes the first member of Congress to testify under oath about the January 6th insurrection. But it turns out she doesn't remember much about that day.
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BRUNHUBER: Russia's military now confirms its objective in Ukraine is to take full control of the Black Sea coast and establish a land bridge between Russia and Crimea. Ukraine's president warns, if that happens, Russia's aggression will spread to other countries.
Mariupol says an evacuation will attempt to get underway today. An estimated 100,000 civilians still remain in the city. And we've been telling you about Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, who have been holed up in Mariupol's steel factory.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We all really want to return home. We want to return to our lives, to see our parents, relatives and so on. We really miss them.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian troops in a small town outside of Kyiv are being honored for halting Russia's initial assault on the capital. Russian shelling left extensive damage. As Ukraine's Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter this weekend, Ukraine's president says he was hopeful of prevailing against Russia.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The 58th day of our defense is coming to an end. It ends on Good Friday, one of the most sorrowful days of the year for Christians, the day when death seems to have won. But we hope for a resurrection. We believe in the victory of life over death and we pray that death loses.
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BRUNHUBER: Britain's ministry of defense says Russia has made no major gains in the past 24 hours and its air and sea forces haven't established control in either domain as Russian troops continue to face heavy fighting in Mariupol, despite Russian claims the city has been liberated.
All right, we want to focus now on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine that continues to unfold. The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine is set to surpass 5 million. Most are going to Poland.
Have a look. This family fled to Serbia after their hometown of Mariupol became the target of nearly constant bombardment, with much of the city flattened, burned or just gone.
We've learned of a humanitarian corridor that may be open today. However, Ukraine's prime minister says, in the past, Russia hasn't stopped bombing long enough for Ukrainians to escape.
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DENYS SHMYHAL, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: There are many civilians, women and children, protecting and still fighting against Russian armies. But they're still there. We are speaking to our partners and we try to say, create human corridors. Let all these people, civilians, even protectors, military people, to go from there.
Because now they are bombing this territory, absolutely destroying everything, every building. Even the shelters where people are hiding they are bombarding. This is the biggest humanitarian catastrophe during this and maybe during last century.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: We have correspondents across the region, covering the conflict from every angle. Our Matt Rivers is in Lviv, along with Scott McLean. And Ed Lavandera is in Yahidne.
We begin with Scott McLean, live this hour in Lviv.
The revelation Russia wants to take full control of the Black Sea coast and establish that land bridge to Crimea, what more are we learning about this and the implications for the region?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So these were comments made by the Russian military commander yesterday to Russian state media.
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MCLEAN: And essentially, as you mentioned, he said that the Russian goal of this phase two operation, which began two or three days ago, is to control the entire eastern part of Ukraine, the Donbas region, and also the southern coast all the way to Moldova.
Of course, Ukrainian troops continue to hold out a small piece of Mariupol, refusing to leave right now. The Ukrainians continue to hold on to key cities like Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine and also Odessa.
But that commander says that being able to control the entire south coast of the country would link Russia up with Moldova and specifically with Transnistria, a separatist region of Moldova, where Russian troops have been stationed since the 1990s.
President Zelenskyy in his address last night acknowledged the Russian view on this, which they think Russian speakers in that area are being mistreated.
But Zelenskyy said Putin would do much better to focus on the Russian speakers in his own country, who don't have freedom of expression, don't have freedom to dissent and oftentimes live in poverty.
The Moldovan foreign minister also summoned the Russian ambassador yesterday to discuss these comments, saying Moldova is neutral country and its borders need to be respected by all countries, including the Russians, who have long agreed to respect its borders.
BRUNHUBER: And the battle for Mariupol and those still trapped there, what's the latest?
MCLEAN: Yes, so, this is a city that has been under siege since the outset of the war. So you've had people sheltering underground for almost two months now in many cases. There are still tens of thousands of people trapped.
The Ukrainians refuse to budge. They're holding out. They are stationed at the Azovstal steel plant there, where local officials say there's also some 1,000 women and children sheltering underground as well.
There is a humanitarian corridor, as you mentioned earlier, being organized from the western part of Mariupol, a long way from that steel plant, which Russians are restricting access to anyway, that's supposed to start organizing around now and going to start moving, hopefully within the next hour or so.
We're also seeing new video from inside that steel plant, shot by the Azov Regiment. This is a part of the Ukrainian military in that area. They went underground and you can see how deep these bunkers are.
And you can see the conditions people are living in, very dark, very primitive conditions. The soldiers there brought supplies and also spoke to kids, who are in remarkably good spirits, considering what they've been through. Here's what one boy said to the camera.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I hope we can leave here and see the sun because we've sat here for two months already. I want to see the sun so that when our houses are rebuilt, we can live in peace, so we can live in Ukraine, because this is our native home.
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MCLEAN: Seems like a pretty small ask to be able to see the sun after two months living in the dark. One more note on those humanitarian corridors. You know, I've spoken to people from Mariupol, who have managed to get out through Russia.
And they say that the whole area is an information black hole. It is extremely difficult to get any kind of reliable information. Oftentimes, when people are finally forced out of their shelters because they've run out of food, they are seeking help, trying to link up with these corridors based purely on rumors, instinct and likely a lot of luck.
BRUNHUBER: Gosh, "I want to see the sun," just heartbreaking to hear that from that little boy. Scott McLean, thanks so much, appreciate it.
As we mentioned, the city of Mariupol is battered, charred and, in parts, flattened. Evacuating the city is often extremely dangerous because of constant Russian bombardment. Matt Rivers spoke to a few families who made it out.
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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.
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RIVERS (voice-over): And yet for the ten 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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BRUNHUBER: We want to speak to someone who's seen the horror of Mariupol with her own eyes. Tetyana Burak and her husband fled to Lviv, where she joins us now.
Thanks so much for being here with us. I just want to start with how you're doing. When you tried to escape Mariupol, I believe your arm was broken, your husband's jaw as well.
How are you both recovering? TETYANA BURAK, ENGLISH TEACHER AND MARIUPOL SURVIVOR: We are in the hospital in Lviv right now. And so we're doing better. My husband is getting ready for the jaw operation. So I guess we are much better than many thousands of our friends, who are still in Mariupol.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I can imagine. Now to that city itself, what's happening there, I mean we've seen the pictures. It's really horrifying. You experienced that constant bombardment, the lack of electricity, the cold and, unfortunately as well, witnessing the number of dead, families having to bury relatives, neighbors in the yard.
I mean, you survived some, what, 45 days of this. Describe this nightmare for us so the world can get a better sense of what those in your city have gone through.
BURAK: It was really a nightmare because we were actually wounded while we were in Mariupol. And so we were sent to one of the hospitals, which was close to the entrance to the city, from the direction of Lubyansk.
And it was the place where the Russian army tried to come in to Mariupol. So this district was probably one of the most shelled. After they left bank (ph), where they started shelling. And so it was really horrible.
All the people who were in the hospital, they were put in the corridors because it was very dangerous to be in the rooms with windows because, every time the bomb fell, the windows could break and injure people.
And so it was really horrible to hear the sound of Russian planes because, when you hear the plane, you don't know where the bomb might fall. And we could feel the impact of the bomb, when the whole building was shaking.
And then from the window of the hospital, you could see the multistory buildings around, being destroyed and burning. And who knows how many people were killed and burned in their own apartment. We have the official count of the dead in Mariupol, which is I think 22,000 people. I think the number is four or five times bigger.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we really don't know and probably won't for a while. In addition to all those horrors, of feeling the building shaking and feeling as if you're in danger.
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BRUNHUBER: I mean you spoke to the Russian soldiers, who said they were there to liberate you. I mean it must have been surreal, not just the very concept of speaking face-to-face with the enemy but also their response as to why they were there in the first place.
How did they explain or justify what they were doing to your city?
BURAK: They said that they came to liberate us from horrors we had been experiencing for eight years from Azov (ph). And when we asked them, where did you get that information, they just said that we didn't have enough information about the horrors, which were happening in Mariupol since 2014.
So these people are like zombies. They are hearing all kind of propaganda from all these information sources in Russia. And they just don't understand that we had a real good life in Mariupol, that our city was prospering and flourishing, that it was developing.
And people had a lot of plans, a lot of good things, a lot of dreams. And they just destroyed everything.
BRUNHUBER: It's just so tragic. And as you say, I mean not just for so many people -- I mean yourself, you have nothing to go back to, right?
I mean, your house was destroyed, the school you worked at, that had survived the Second World War, that was destroyed as well.
I mean, do you think you can go back?
BURAK: You know what, right now we're not thinking about going back because it's like coming back to the grave because actually Mariupol now looks like a mass grave for so many thousands of people and for dreams of people, for people's lives.
Maybe in the future -- well, we still believe that Mariupol will be a Ukrainian city and it might be restored. But it's too painful to think about coming back right now, especially --
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BURAK: -- there are a lot of friends and colleagues who are still there and we don't know what is going on with them. We don't know if they're alive or not.
BRUNHUBER: Gosh. I can just hear and feel the emotion in your voice as you think about all of the people who have been lost and the people who are still there.
You managed to get out. Hopefully, we're hearing about a humanitarian corridor that might be opening in less than an hour from now. So hopefully more of those people who need to get out can escape.
Listen, we really appreciate you sharing your experiences with us and we wish you the best in your physical recovery and also, I mean, emotionally, after having lost so much. Thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
Well, to find out how you can help people in Ukraine like we just heard there, who may need shelter, food and water, please go to cnn.com/impact. And just thrilled to hear that our CNN audience has already donated more than $7.5 million. Of course, more help is desperately needed.
Coming up, our other top story. French voters prepare to decide who will lead their country for the next five years. We'll go live to Paris on the eve of an election, the impact of which will be felt well beyond France. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Two candidates, two opposing visions about the future of France. Incumbent president Emmanuel Macron and his far right challenger, Marine Le Pen, wrapped up their final campaign events on Friday.
It's now up to voters to decide on Sunday who will be their next president. But whoever comes out on top, the election is expected to have an impact well beyond France. For more on this, Jim Bittermann joins us from Paris.
Where do we stand right now?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Right now, today, is what they call a day of reflection here. Basically it's a pause in the campaigning, sometimes noisy campaigning, that's been going on for weeks.
And until the vote count is announced officially tomorrow night, Sunday night at 8 o'clock, in fact, there will be no more talking about the polls and the kinds of things we've seen going on every day.
So editors here are resorting to, you know, either summaries of the campaign. "Figaro" this morning say it's a "Decisive choice for France," and they're talking about the kind of issues the French are voting on, those issues that the French have foremost in their minds: the rising costs of living, for example, the environment and the war in Ukraine.
All issues that have come up during the campaign especially in a debate the other night, kind of evaluating the issues without saying anything about which candidate might be ahead in this day, when electioneering is supposed to be off the agenda.
BRUNHUBER: As I mentioned in the intro, the implications of this election extend far beyond France's borders.
What implications might a Le Pen victory have?
Or even if Emmanuel Macron squeaks by with a narrow margin, will that change his mandate when it comes to dealing with Europe, for example?
BITTERMANN: Well, I think that's exactly what the choice comes down to, basically Europe or not Europe.
[04:25:00] BITTERMANN: Marine Le Pen has said during the campaign she's against the intervention of the European institutions and European laws in France. She wants France to remain sovereign.
Whereas Mr. Macron has been, all along in the five years of his presidency, has been quite pro-European. So from that aspect, it will definitely have impact beyond the borders.
And there's also this aspect that we, in the press, have been writing a lot about, this whole rise of the Right phenomenon. We've seen in other places in Europe, like Hungary for example, where you have right-wing candidates getting elected.
And here in fact, because the choice is between two right-wing candidates, Mr. Macron viewed as center right and Marine Le Pen as far right, a lot of voters are saying, especially a lot of left wing voters, are saying it's like a choice between cholera and the plague.
BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be watching, thanks, Jim.
Be sure to join us Sunday at 8:00 pm Paris time, 2:00 pm Eastern in the U.S. for special live coverage of the French election, right here on CNN.
Well, there are some troubling new 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.
And now residents of Boston are being told they should wear masks indoors again. That comes after a 65 percent increase in COVID cases over the past two weeks. Officials say hospitalizations have been slowly rising during that same time period.
And 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 seven days.
Well, homes may be rebuilt but there are scars left by the war in Ukraine that will last much longer, like in one village, where Russian troops held the entire town hostage. They tell their story to CNN.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) has to be a battlefield as well and we have to fight.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): That's one of the curators for a Ukrainian art team, fighting to represent their culture at one of the biggest art fairs in the world. We'll have that story ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Officials with the city of Mariupol say they will attempt another evacuation of civilians in the coming hours. Russia's military now confirms its objective is to take full control of Ukraine's Black Sea coast. President Zelenskyy warns, if Russia is successful it will only be the beginning and Russia's aggression will turn to other countries.
But Britain's defense ministry says Russia has made no major gains in the past 24 hours and they continue to face heavy fighting in Mariupol, despite Russian claims the city is liberated.
We've been telling you about civilians and soldiers holed up inside Mariupol's steel factory. Video from those troops shows them delivering supplies to the women and children huddled in the bomb shelter.
Ukraine says the discovery of more suspected mass graves near Mariupol is further evidence of alleged Russian war crimes.
Well, as our reporters meet more Ukrainians, the stories of brutality at the hands of Russian troops have a common thread. Our Ed Lavandera met a group of villagers, who showed them how the invaders held them captive in the basement of a school.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): War stopped time here. Bombs and artillery scorch 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 says 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.
LAVANDERA: Sofia tells us that when the Russian soldiers moved them all into the basement of the school building, that they were put down there and that the soldiers told them that they were being put in the basement to die.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): A woman named Natalia took us into the basement where she was trapped.
"I was in a stupor," Natalia tells me. "I was just sitting there praying, hoping it would all stop soon."
LAVANDERA: Residents tell us that 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 was 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.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): These are some of the only known images captured in the school's basement. The faces say at all.
LAVANDERA: She is telling me that about 35 people slept in this small room. Nobody could lie down. They slept kind of sitting with their knees up against their chest.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The rooms are littered with makeshift beds, schoolbooks, and Russian troop meal boxes, but it's 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.
LAVANDERA: The people who were trapped down here etched names onto 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.
LAVANDERA (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.
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 one-year-old daughter.
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LAVANDERA: Did you think you were going to survive that?
LAVANDERA (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.'"
LAVANDERA: Sofia, how did you feel when you got out of the basement of the school?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): She says, "One of the villagers opened 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."
LAVANDERA: What will you tell your daughter about this experience?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): "Nothing," she says. Her daughter will not remember it and she will tell her nothing -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: More than 30 people are dead, dozens injured, after another deadly blast in Afghanistan. The Taliban say the explosion hit a mosque in Kunduz province during Friday prayers. This is the latest in a wave of explosions to strike Afghanistan over the last week or so.
Most are claimed by ISIS and its rival ISIS Khorasan or ISIS-K. We haven't heard a claim of responsibility in the latest blast yet.
U.S. House minority leader is doing damage control with Republicans after leaked audio reveals his critical comments in the days after the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And a Georgia Republican may not be able to seek re-election because of her alleged actions before and during the riot. We'll have that story after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: 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."
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BRUNHUBER: 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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BRUNHUBER: 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.
Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was confronted with evidence of her past violent statements Friday. It happened during a hearing to determine whether she should be barred from running for re-election due to her alleged role in the January 6th insurrection. Here's Amara Walker.
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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An extraordinary day in court as Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took the stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) so help you God.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): (INAUDIBLE). WALKER (voice-over): In a hearing to determine if the Republican lawmaker is constitutionally disqualified from running for reelection because of any role she may have played and the January 6th insurrection, Greene still pushing the big lie.
ANDREW CELLI, LAWYER FOR CHALLENGES: You believed that Joe Biden had lost the election to Mr. Trump, right?
GREENE: Well, yes, we saw tremendous amount of voter fraud ..
WALKER (voice-over): But continuing to deny prior knowledge of what would happen on January 6th.
CELLI: You were aware that people were going to make noise outside the capitol as a means to disrupt the proceedings inside the Capitol, is that fair?
GREENE: No. I have no idea what you're talking about.
CELLI: Prior to January 6th 2021, had you heard that people were planning to enter the Capitol Building illegally in order to disrupt the electoral count process?
GREENE: No. Absolutely not.
WALKER (voice-over): Green also unable to recall her conversations with other lawmakers.
CELLI: You didn't talk to anybody in government about the fact that there were going to be large protests in Washington on January 6th.
GREENE: I don't remember.
CELLI: You spoke to Representative Biggs or his staff about that fact that, didn't you?
GREENE: I do not remember.
CELLI: How about Representative Gosar?
GREENE: Sorry, I don't remember.
WALKER (voice-over): Using the same defense when asked about some of her controversial social media posts.
CELLI: Did you like a post that said it's quicker that a bullet to the head would be a quicker way to remove Nancy Pelosi from the role of speaker?
GREENE: I have had many people manage my social media account over the years. I have no idea who liked that.
WALKER (voice-over): Green frequently objected to the line of questioning.
GREENE: You sound like you have as many conspiracy theories as QAnon at this point.
WALKER: But maintain that her objections on January 6th were political free speech, not advocating violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You used the term 1776 to describe to -- in response to a question from Newsmax broadcaster, right?
GREENE: I was speaking about objecting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he asked you, what is your plan?
What do you prepare to have go down tomorrow on January 6th?
And your response was, tomorrow is our 1776 moment, right?
GREENE: I was talking about the courage to object.
WALKER: Greene's attorneys focusing on her own fears that day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you a victim of the attack?
GREENE: Yes, I was. I was in the House chamber when it happened.
WALKER: Even though, Greene still defended some of those charged in connection with the insurrection as patriots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them were veterans. Yes. Some of them differently are patriots.
WALKER: At the core of the case, a provision of the 14th Amendment barring American officials from future office if found aiding or engaging in an insurrection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not politics. This is fear. This is serious case.
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WALKER: The outcome in Georgia could set a precedent for similar challenges against other Republican officials for their roles in the insurrection.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We're going to the Capitol.
WALKER: Including against former President Donald Trump, if he runs again in 2024.
The judge is expected to make a decision some time early next month on whether or not Marjorie Taylor Greene should be disqualified from seeking re-election. He'll then make a recommendation to the Georgia secretary of state, who will make a final determination.
Keep in mind, this insurrection disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment is from the Civil War era. That means it has never been tested in modern history before. So this will be an uphill battle for the challengers -- Amara Walker, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian artists are fighting to represent their culture to the world. We'll follow one team's journey as they escape war and present their work. That story ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra is back for the first time since the war in Ukraine. It kicked off a European tour at the Warsaw Philharmonic on Thursday. The musicians have been taking refugees 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 is also a political protest against Vladimir Putin and the war.
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BRUNHUBER: As Russia tries to carve up Ukraine, destroying the very idea of an independent Ukrainian state, it's never been more important to present Ukrainian culture and artwork to the world. Rosie Tomkins has more on a Ukrainian art team that escaped the fighting, showing 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.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly. It's good to be together --
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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.
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LIZAVETA GERMAN, CURATOR, UKRAINE PAVILION: 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.
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.
GERMAN: Of course, it's an optimistic symbol. But at the end, the very presence of it in Venice, I think, it will be hope (ph) to 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: No one could stop the war right now. But it might stop the next one.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back in just moments with more news. Please stay with us.
