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Air Raid Sirens Sound in Mykolaiv; Vladislav Davidzon is Interviewed about Ukraine; Aid Workers Face Challenges; Deadly Weekend Shootings in the U.S. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:05]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: British defense officials say Russian forces are making little progress trying to circumvent Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, but they also warn the Russian's blockade on the Ukrainian coast is likely to exacerbate the humanitarian situation.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Brianna, this is a city which over the last few days began to feel a little more relaxed. It had been the scene of tire barricades which the local governor had asked people to put out in case the Russians came in and engaged in street-to-street fighting. But because of Ukrainian successes, we saw some of them ourselves, pushing back down the road from here towards Kherson, the first major city that Russia occupied, and really the only one that it actually has its hands on fully right now, because of the Ukrainian successes pushing that in that direction, the fear here has been that Russia's retaliation is through heavy strikes.

We've seen a barracks in this sort of center of town to the north of where I'm standing hit hard on Friday, and we were speaking, in the last hour, Brianna, there were two impacts in the city center here. Not exactly sure exactly where. That's the first time that has come this close to sort of the population center. Unclear what the target was.

And that brings into mind a broader concern that as Russia loses ground, loses the fight, frankly, to control a city like this, it takes its price through significant shelling, damage to residential areas. We've seen that before, but also possibly more pushes and strikes, too.

There's some more bangs in the distance over here we're hearing here off and on, clear. That's been persistent over the past weeks. But it's the ferocity of the bombardment that's changed since we've seen Russia losing on the ground.

The regional governor has been trying to get people, I think, to feel a little more relaxed, saying how they needed to come together to remove the dead bodies of Russian soldiers on the ground. Now the weather is certainly begin to warm up. But there is a fear here I think that while encirclement, like in a city like Mariupol on the Sea of Azov coast further to the east, is unlikely to happen here eminently (ph) because Russian troops are just not getting the job done on the ground at all. They keep being pushed back, relentlessly, particularly towards Kherson.

What, instead, Moscow is going to do is launch more strikes against places like this, busy, residential areas that are coming back to life again and now dealing with a ferocity of a blast here or there, often at duck, in the city center, just this morning, that may be the new normal as they see Moscow's rath manifested in heavy explosives.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it is so interesting just to see people walking around even behind you carrying bags and appears to be shopping.

Nick, thank you so much. Really appreciate that update.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now, a journalist covering the war, and Atlantic Council fellow, Vladislav Davidzon.

Vladislav, your beloved Odessa, in many ways, is being saved by the fighting that's happening in Mykolaiv right now, also in southern Ukraine in Kherson. I just -- when you see reports like Nick's, when you see what's happening there, I wonder what your thoughts are.

VLADISLAV DAVIDZON, FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Hi. Thank you for having me on again.

I got my family out through Bucharest into France, and I -- I am now back in Warsaw reporting before going back in a couple of days to Ukraine. I'm waiting for President Biden to arrive here.

I am praying that the Ukrainian army holds in Mariupol. I am praying that the Ukrainian soldiers hold out in Mykolaiv and that they do not fall. And I am praying that my family is not bombed in Odessa, when inevitably the Russian army tries to take it.

BERMAN: Well, we're right there with you. And I know how hard it must be to right now be hoping and praying.

[08:35:04]

You burned your Russian passport. You're something of a citizen of the world.

DAVIDZON: Yes.

BERMAN: You had a Russian passport. You no longer do. Why?

DAVIDZON: I did. Yes. I went to the Russian embassy in Paris two days ago with the former president of Estonia, Toomas Ilves, who's a -- like me, an American gentleman, who grew up in America, and a gentleman from New Jersey. I myself am from Brooklyn.

I had a Russian passport because I lived in Moscow as a kid. And my father is a Russian citizen. I am married to a Ukrainian lady. I, myself, was born in central Asia, in Uzbekistan, to Ukrainian Jews. I'm a Ukrainian Jew from Uzbekistan who's 10,000 percent from New York City, I mean 10,000 percent a New Yorker. I had a Russian passport in my back pocket. I went and symbolically burned my Russian passport in front of the Russian embassy in Paris. And I had the former president of Estonia hold the lighter. And it was fantastically cathartic.

BERMAN: Why?

Vladislav -- I think I lost Vladislav Davidzon.

DAVIDZON: Yes, can you hear me?

BERMAN: Well, we appreciate you being with us so much.

DAVIDZON: No, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here now. Can you hear me now, sir?

BERMAN: Yes. I was just -- I was asking why it was cathartic.

DAVIDZON: It was -- it was cathartic because I was finally able to take a stand and to say, I'm a member of the Ukrainian political nation. My wife is Ukrainian. My family is Ukrainian. My relatives in Odessa are Ukrainian. And, you know, to finally say that in 1943, the culture of Germany was that of Hitler, not of Schiller and Gotai (ph). Hitler represented German culture of a totality of what it meant to be a German -- a bearer of German culture or a German passport in 1943. It was not Gotai (ph), it was not Schiller, it was not, you know, it was not one of the great German composers.

So now, in the year 2022, the year of our Lord 2022, to be a Russian citizen, you actively have to make a decision and to fly your flag. What is it that you're representing? What does it mean to be a Russian citizen now? I no longer consider myself one. That's why I burned my passport.

BERMAN: Vladislav Davidzon, we do appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much for the work you continue to do.

DAVIDZON: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, including an estimated 1.5 million children. A journey that can be harrowing and dangerous.

Plus, more on the breaking news, a shopping center in Kyiv just destroyed by Russian bombings. CNN is there live as the capital city declared a new curfew.

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[08:42:02] BERMAN: More than 3 million Ukrainians have now fled their homeland. A staggering 10 million have been forced from their homes. The journey for so many of these refugees seeking help and a safe haven in another country, it has been harrowing.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live in Medyka in Poland, not all that far from where I am, but a key stopping point for well over 2 million people at this point, Melissa.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And what we have seen, John, is really a change in the places from where they've been coming, also the nature of their journeys. Initially what we've seen are people who had rushed across the border as quickly as they can. Now more than three weeks into this crossing, what we're seeing here at Medyka crossing is people who are coming from those cities that have been hardest hit, Kharkiv, Irpin. Those are some of the names that keep coming back.

And I'm just going to show you the border crossing itself over here. Down this lane, John, is where the refugees fleeing come. So those over a certain age, since fighting age men have had to stay behind, women and their children. And just on the other side is where the cars head out. And that is the -- one of the main routes through which some of that much-needed aid to those very same cities is headed.

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BELL (voice over): From all over the world, boxes of donations, food, medicine and clothing now piled high and being sorted by volunteers in a disused warehouse at the Polish town of Przemysl, not far from the border of Ukraine.

KATARYNA GORZALA, VOLUNTEER MANAGING AID WAREHOUSE: At the beginning I was really surprised that so many people wanted to help. But now it -- I think I am used to it, you know, how wonderful people are.

BELL: Donations that Ukraine desperately needs, loaded into vans to be taken to the border and then into the war-torn country. The land routes from Europe are now Ukraine's lifeline. The main roads humanitarian organizations use to bring in their much-needed supplies.

And they are far from safe. One Ukrainian driver, who didn't want to be identified, sharing some of his drive and telling us of several close shaves.

PRANAV SHERRY, PROJECT HOPE: I think we've kind of seen that civilian targets are not off limits in this crisis. And so that's a constant issue in the back of most humanitarians' minds is how do -- how do we deal with the potential risk of a directed attack? How do we ensure that our aid is seen as separate from, as you know, all of the military aid that's going into Ukraine.

BELL: Last week Russia delivered a chilling warning.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, we clearly said that any cargo moving into Ukrainian territory, which we would believe is carrying weapons, would be a fair game.

BELL: On Thursday, the United Nations got its first convoy of aid into the heavily damaged town of Sumy, calling it a breakthrough for cities facing, quote, fatal shortages of food, water and medicine.

[08:45:07]

And as the violence worsens, the need for medical supplies to help the wounded continues to grow. As does the west's determination to help. President Joe Biden signing $13.6 billion worth of aid only last week.

ROBERT MARDINI, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: The bottleneck is not funds because there has been a great deal of solidarity and generosity. So we now really need to step up the operational response inside the country.

BELL: In the knowledge that the longer the conflict lasts and the more the aid is needed, the more dangerous it will become to deliver.

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BELL: It also means, John, that scenes here at Medyka crossing, for instance, will continue to worsen with the trauma that those refugees carry continuing to worsen as we head towards the one-month mark of this conflict.

BERMAN: No, they carry so much with them, even if they are lucky enough to get across that border.

Melissa Bell, thank you so much for being with us.

So we have a new update this morning on the little girl who sang a "Frozen" song inside a bomb shelter.

Stick around.

And in the United States, a weekend of deadly shootings wreaking havoc across the country. One of the innocent victims, a former CNN team member.

We'll be right back.

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[08:50:40]

KEILAR: A weekend of deadly violence across the country with multiple shootings from Florida to Texas.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins us with the details.

Shimon.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, these were children and young adults enjoying weekend events, from birthday parties to a car show in Arkansas, when gunfire erupted. All of them, the majority of them almost, innocent bystanders caught in the line of fire.

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PROKUPECZ (voice-over): A weekend of deadly shootings across the U.S.

In the state of Texas alone there were at least three shootings, all of them took place early Sunday in the cities of Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Following a fight in a parking lot outside a birthday party in Houston, four teenagers were shot and one 17-year-old boy was killed. The Harris County Sheriff's Department says the dispute involved as many as 100 people and it quickly escalated into gunfire. No suspects have been identified and the cause of the altercation is unknown according to Houston Police.

In Dallas, another overnight shooting resulting in at least ten wounded, one in critical condition according to Dallas Police. The shooting is under investigation, police said, and it appears that other people were injured trying to get away from the scene.

And in downtown Austin, another shooting, as thousands of people were enjoying the final weekend of the two-week long South By Southwest Festival. Four people were wounded, but their injuries were minor according to the Austin Police Department. Police said the shooting was the result of a disturbance between two groups of people and there's no danger to the public.

In the city of Dumas, Arkansas, a shooting at a car show killed one man and injured at least 28 people, including multiple children. The man who died has been identified as 23-year-old Cameron Schaffer (ph), authorities said. While the Arkansas State Police say this was not intended to be a mass shooting incident, the small community is startled.

COL. BILL BRYANT, ARKANSAS STATE POLICE: It's shocking. We have a small community, a farming community. You don't expect that from small town Arkansas.

PROKUPECZ: The search is on for two suspects in connection with the shooting. So far police say they have arrested one person on unrelated charges.

In Miami Beach, a scare during spring break early Sunday morning. Video shows a crowd reacting to gunfire that left three people injured with apparent gunshot wounds. The footage also shows police rushing toward the shooting on Ocean Drive. Investigators are still trying to determine what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting.

In North Carolina, gunfire left three people dead and two injured. Police said the shooting took place at a hotel in Fayetteville, ten miles south of Ft. Bragg. Police are investigating and asking the public for help.

And, finally, in Norfolk, Virginia, tragedy at a downtown restaurant. Two people killed in a shooting, one victim was identified as 25-year- old Devonn Harris (ph), who was pronounced dead on scene. The other was a Virginia newspaper reporter and former CNN news assistant, Sierra Jenkins. Jenkins, also 26, was taken to a local hospital where she later died police said.

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PROKUPECZ (on camera): Overall, over 50 people injured as a result of these shootings, Brianna. And as for Jenkins, she actually was the on- call breaking news reporter and editor. I called her when the shooting happened, not knowing that she was actually one of the victims, and then later learned that she had died from that shooting.

But certainly a very violent and concerning weekend for law enforcement all across the country, Brianna.

KEILAR: Horrific. Shimon, thank you so much for that report.

And as we were mentioning there, one of the shootings claiming the life of Sierra Jenkins, who was just 25 years old. She had recently worked here at CNN, first as an intern on an essential editorial team that we call The Row, and then as a news assistant with our health unit. Fresh out of college at Georgia State University, Sierra jumped right into one of the biggest stories in our lifetime to cover the Covid pandemic. And then she landed a great job as a reporter at the Virginian Pilot. And not too long after, she sent the team this picture, a photo of her first front page story. A story about CVS stores in her area offering Covid vaccines.

And Sierra mentioned just how important the story was to her community, that people would call the paper in tears trying to get an appointment, and how glad she was to be of service.

[08:55:04]

In a statement "The Pilot" said that Sierra was a bright and talented woman with so much promise, that she brought energy and empathy to her work as an education reporter.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, who worked closely with Sierra writes, we are just devastated and broken. Every assignment she was given, she hit it out of the park no matter how complex or difficult. On top of that, she was a lovely person and excited about every task we gave her. When she left CNN, she told us her goal was to come back some day, and we eagerly awaited that day. She was a shining star and a rising star with so much to offer, and now she's been taken from her family, from us and from the world.

The health team says she had a remarkably clear understanding of the importance of journalism for local communities and for the world and she took the responsibility seriously.

Sierra's dad says everyone loved her. We here at CNN loved her. And our thoughts and our love are with her family at this time. Sierra Jenkins, a bright light in a world in need of them, taken far too soon.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (singing).

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KEILAR: All right, that song gets me. That was seven year old Amelia (ph), who earlier this month went viral in a video where she was so sweetly serenading people with that hit song "Let it Go" from "Frozen" while forced to shelter in a bunker in Kyiv.

[09:00:06]

Well, now --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (singing).

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KEILAR: That is Amelia making her television debut last night, courageously singing Ukraine's national anthem in front of thousands and thousands of people at a special charity concert in Poland, where she fled with her grandmother and siblings last week.

And CNN's coverage continues right now.