hello, everyone. i'm michael holmes from lviv in ukraine. we're following breaking developments. russia's latest plan for a limited cease fire and opening of humanitarian corridors. has been in effect for about an

hour. it's not clear at the moment where the any evacuations are happening. although the regional governor says the corridors there will remain open. on tuesday, roughly 5,000 people left the city. that's according to the ukrainian president office. earlier in the day, the scene of devas devastating carnage. air strikes killing 21 people including two children. the cease fire plan is supposed to cover kharkiv. ukraine second largest city. it has seen some of the most damaging strikes from russia. since the invasion began two weeks ago. ukrainian fighters putting up stiff resistance. and the southern city is under siege as well. capturing video of the explosions lighting up the night sky there. city leaders are asking residents to bring tires to every intersection to stop the russian advance. or at least slow it somewhat.

in washington a top u.s. state department official explained what she thinks the war means for russian president vladimir putin. >> the way this conflict will end is when putin realizes that this adventure has put his own leadership standing at risk. with his own military and own people. that he is hemorrhaging the lives of the people of russia. the army of russia and their future. to his own vein ambition. he will have to change course. or the russian people take matters into their own hands. from the u.s. perspective, the end game is the strategic defeat of president putin in this adventure. >> as the conflict grinds on, one thing seems increasingly

clear, that is that this war is not playing out the way the kremlin hoped. nato official tells us the russian troops are not making much progress and nato intelligence suggests russia won't be making any major gains for at least the next few days. >> two weeks into the invasion the war in ukraine is has become a slow grinding conflict. not the blitz advance the russian military planned and hoped for. >> russia failure to rapidly seize kyiv and overwhelm ukrainian forces has deprived moscow. of the quick military victory that probably had originally expected. >> u.s. and nato military assistance to ukrainian forces has flowed in quickly. and enormous quantity. the u.s. and partners provided some 17,000 antitank missiles. including the javelin and shoulder fire system. and according to a senior u.s. official, some 3,700 antiaircraft missiles. including the stinger.

shoulder fire missile. these missiles had an immediate impact on the battlefield. this is a shoulder fired missile shooting down a russian attack helicopter. >> it's a race between our ability and nato ability to push forward supply. such as 17,000 missiles that have been recently approved. to get those in the hands of the ukrainian war fighters. before the russians can regroup and get their logistics, lines of communication and capability up to snub. >> military losses are harder to gauge. briefed on the intelligence, the u.s. estimates russia lost somewhere between 2 and 4,000 soldiers. this comes with low confidence. the u.s. doesn't have reliable information on losses of ukrainian personnel. russian forces advanced more quickly in the south. from russian controlled territory in crimea. more slowly in the east and

north. they continue efforts to surround cities such as kharkiv. a senior u.s. official says the u.s. believes russia is still several days from being able to surround the capitol kyiv. and after that, faces a protracted battle to occupy the city itself. >> analyst assess putin is unlikely to be deterred by set backs and may escalate. he feels aggrieved the west doesn't give him proper deference and this is war he can't afford to lose. >> forces increasingly targeted the civilian population. with aerial bombardment and shelling. following a time worn russian strategy of pursuit ruthlessly. in the 1990s and more recently in syria. 474 civilians including 29 children have been killed since the invasion began. this according to the un human rights office. and a further 861 injured. the un believes the true figure is likely to be quote considerably higher.

>> now the relentless russian attacks caused two million people to flee the country. according to the un. and many of them are now taking refuge in neighboring poland. >> as you know, at the border we're seeing mostly women and children. this is the border between poland and ukraine. we have also talked to some of the children. we hear a lot from the adults. we talked to the children and one child in particular had a terrifying story about how he got here. he is eleven. he had school and was living his life with his parents working. and then suddenly he was in the middle of war in kyiv. >> i was hearing explosions all the time. i was scared because i knew the rocket can hit my house. or the home of my relatives. that scared me. the soldiers from russia didn't

know where to stop. they are dropping bombs all the time. >> he says it's so matter of factually. and we're also hearing from kids, it's really what we're not hearing. we're not hearing crying. and usually that means they are in shock. he described things as if it was a regular day. clearly, the things he is saying were terrifying. his grandmother was standing there and crying. so this has been an incredibly difficult time for the adults. for the children, imagine not really understanding what's going on and you are fly fleeing for your life. we're seeing that by the hundreds of thousands of mothers and children who are coming over the border on a daily basis. >> in the early days of the invasion here the un world food program saw the writing on the wall and launched an emergency food assistance operation.

the group executive director joining me now. from warsaw in poland. thanks for doing so. i want to talk about the global impact. let's start with this country. ukraine. this is the place where a month back ewe eat at sushi restaurants and shop at stocked grocery stores. now the country is facing a looming hunger crisis. explain what's unfolding in the country and how bad it could get. >> it's going to get very bad. we're planning to scale up three to five million people. you can imagine that's not simple. in a war zone that we're facing all throughout ukraine. the people that have already fled two million outside of ukraine. they are ltth lucky ones. out of harms way and getting food, shelter and support. from the international community and friends and neighbors. and everywhere else in europe. now we're dealing with particularly with 40 million people inside ukraine. how are they going to get food they need with supply chains are

disrupted and shut down. lives are torn apart. we're scaling up and putting systems in place so the international community has a structure of logistics provide food and shelter. >> doing great work. you have warned this conflict could send global food prices soaring. it's not about the money it's the catastrophic impact that will have on the world forest. more people at risk of starvation worldwide. tell us about the global aspect. >> before ukraine hit the scene back when we were facing extraordinary circumstances. a perfect storm with conflict around the world and other places. with climate extremes and covid on top of that. we have seen the number of people marching for starvation spike from 135 to 276 million people. who are facing billion dollars of shortage and food price hiking as well as fuel prices going up.

and ukraine hits. you think the it can't get worse. we already have hell on earth. in many places like afghanistan and the yemen. and now you have ukraine. why is this catastrophic on top of catastrophic is because 50% of all the grain that we buy and feed we feed about 125 billion people on any given day. 50% of the grain comes from ukraine. 30% of the world grain of wheat comes from ukraine and russia. 20% of corn. 80% of cooking oil. sunflower seed oil comes from ukraine and russia. you are going to see a global impact on food supply. as well as price spiking around the world. fuel costs are going up. shipping costs are going up. we're looking at a $50 million per month right now of increase cost of operation. billions of dollars short. more people will starve to death around the world and places like

yemen and syria. who rely on this grain and wheat. and shipping supplies. it's going to be a bad situation. >> it is. it's going to be horrible here. it will be a disaster around the world. i know you have written the world food program because of the pandemic and other issues as well. it was already paying 30% more for food than it did in 2019. so, how much worse does this war make it? >> it makes it a lot worse. global supply is heavily dependent upon the region in war. it disrupts the supply chain and pricing will go up. the question will be particularly in this fall in the farmers in ukraine get back out in the field and plant. when all the farmers are men and they're on the war front. we're struggling to get truckers, drivers. the men are out on the battlefield.

they are defending their homes and cities and lives. this is creating catastrophic dynamics inside ukraine. also outside ukraine. in the next six to nine months will be tough on everybody. >> yeah. i was reading you wrote in the "washington post" that i think the quote was that the root cause of hunger around the world is i think you said human folly and reckless disregard for human life. how long lasting could the impact of this war be in terms of global hunger? it's not a short term thing. >> no. it's not. short term impact is already being felt around the world. and particularly in especially inside ukraine of course. 40 million people are going to be worrying about how to get food on the daily basis. things we're facing in afghanistan. yemen and syria. lebanon. north africa. you're talking about a short term immediate impact. a long term implications going

to be grave. we don't know how bad this is going to get. we're seeing tremendous amount of international issues taking place right now on export and import issues. this is still going to be played out. and i don't see a pretty picture anywhere on the short or long term. it's going to be tough for everyone. they need to be prepared. >> i have seen you appealing for help for the world food program in all kind of situations. well before this. i hope people do support the world food program. because the work that's done is just so important. david in warsaw, we'll check in again. thanks so much for what you're doing. >> thank you. a haven for the sick and the elderly who kant make the journey out. the nuns of the women arch angel say it's happening daily.

people leaving their most vulnerable family members in their care and try to flee the country. the nuns say it's a struggle but they will open their doors to as many people as they can. although they had to turn away some people they thought were in good health. >> it's not just the nuns here. we also have 150 elderly people. and about 100 students as well as evacuees and we need to feed them all. >> now pets are also being dropped off. and although there's a sense of calm as the evacuees share a meal in the dining room the close proximity of russian troops is a frightening prospect. and they say putin will have to answer for that. >> i think it's a scary unforgettable sin he committed. those acting alongside him. >> as russian forces began the

invasion of ukraine, vladimir putin made a threat which brought back memories of the cold war. coming up. how western countries are analyzing the russian president's nuclear status.

welcome back, everyone. u.s. estimates as much as eight to 10% of russia military assets deployed in the invasion are destroyed or inoperable. cnn joining me now from london. with more on that.

let's start with the cease fire. it started an hour ago. what are you learning about whether it's working? >> that's a critical question. whether it's working. it's been just over an hour. 9:00 a.m. ukrainian time. a humanitarian corridor was established in five key ukrainian cities. including kyiv and kharkiv. russian forces announce this yesterday. saying they will allow evacuations to take place. they were going to observe a regime of silence for a number of hours. to allow families to flee from the critical areas. again the question is how effective will these corridors be? ukrainian authorities have in e yesterday. you showed viewers pictures from sumy. 5,000 people leaving that city. many of them foreign students.

the other side of the coin is a humanitarian convoy trying to leave. that was bombed. by russian forces. russia for its part denies the accusations. all of this of course makes it a very curious situation for the families trying to leave cities and homes. we're talking about this as a best case. people can safely flee. it creates more displacement. families forced to leave homes. a bigger refugee population here. the diplomatic efforts are also key here. you know it's difficult to get these two sides at the table. again signs of progress here. turkey saying that the russian foreign minister and his ukrainian counter part could be meeting tomorrow. to start peace talks to start negotiations. potentially very little details on how indirect or direct the talks will be. those will be critical.

>> yeah. indeed. talks have gone nowhere so far. it's significant that there will be hopefully talks at the level of foreign minister. thank you. in london with the latest on that. there are new concerns surrounding ukraine nuclear power plant. seized by russian forces. the international atomic energy agency says it's no longer receiving data from the monitoring system. at the chernobyl nuclear facility. nuclear regulators said they could only communicate with the plant by e-mail. and they warned the agency it's now critical to rotate staff. as it's roughly 200 people working there. and essentially living at the plant for nearly two weeks straight. since russia took control. >> vladimir putin publicly raise td the specter of the cold war and nuclear weapons.

since directing the invasion. how western countries are analyzing those threats and russia's arsenal behind it. >> russia tanks rolled into ukraine, vladimir putin made a threat not heard since the height of the cold war. >> russia response will be immediate. and will leave you to such consequences never experienced in your history. >> days later he raised the alert level. >> the third world war can only be nuclear. >> nine countries have nuclear weapons. the theory is they are preventive mechanism. hopefully never to be needed in battle. according to the arms control association, russia has the largest number of warheads. just over 6,000. the u.s. isn't far behind. no other country not even israel and north korea has anywhere near this type of capability. now most of russia warheads are not currently on the basis.

1,400 of them are deployable. submarine launch missiles and also on bombers. would russia's president really use them? britain defense secretary said he thinks putin is bluffing. >> he reminded everyone he has nuclear weapons. people get worried. secondly distracted from what's going wrong in ukraine. >> the mere threat itself is designed to change the dynamic of the war. >> he's in a corner. somebody in a corner in that situation becomes more dangerous. more prepared to take risk. still it's most unlikely. i don't want to alarm people. the chance of this happening is long but not zero.

>> 1945. more than 100,000 died. japan expressed grave concern about russia. >> the only country to have suffered a atomic bombings. japan fully aware of catastrophic human cost of the use of nuclear weapons. >> we stress once again. that such tragedy must never be repeated again. >> nuclear intentions are purely defensive. that brings to mind the previous assurances. it had no intention to invade ukraine. >> it's in the minds of western politicians that nuclear war is going on. not in russians. >> only president putin knows how far he would really go in the meantime it's a gamble. the west can't afford to take.

>> still to come here on cnn "newsroom." residents in the port city are using tires to try to prevent a major russian assault. we'll have that and more. when we found out our son had autism, his future became my focus. lavender baths calmed him. so we made a a plan to turn bath time into a business. ♪ ♪ find a northwestern mutual advisor at n nm.com

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welcome back, everyone. i'm michael holmes with the latest developments in ukraine. russia plan for limited cease fires to allow for humanitarian aid and evacuations. that was supposed to take effect last hour. now it would provide corridors for people to leave five cities. it's not known yet if the evacuations got under way successfully or not. among the five cities is sumy in the northeast. the governor there announced the corridor will stay in operation today. government officials say 5,000 people were able to leave on tuesday. the evacuation came hours after officials say an over night air strike killed 20 people. two of them children. there has been no escape for people trapped in the city in the south. ukraine foreign minister says russian troops are holding

300,000 civilians hostage. and in the northeast, sustained air strikes continue on kharkiv. despite the shelling, air raids and strikes on residential districts. that city has not yet fallen to the russians. now we turn our attention to the port city. residents are bracing for more russian attacks there. it's a key battleground in russia effort to capture ukraine's southern coast. >> reporter: after dusk we saw what we thought was out going shelling. relatively busy for about half an hour. and that fed into the general sense of unease here. in this key black sea port city. which has been the subject of a lot of russian military attention. over the past week or so. at this stage, in the middle of the night, the snow has settled

in. the exception of the occasional police siren, flashing lights going past, it is deathly quiet. the fear is the russians are about to begin some broader military operation here. expressed by the regional governor. galvanizing presence for locals on telegram. with constant video messages. most recently telling people if you don't want to be involved in the fight for the city in a risky fashion. there's something you can do. gather spare tires and drive them to the intersection and pile them up. in ten or 15 as a pile. we have seen molotov cocktails. and so his order to two hours later. listen, you have been amazing. thank you. you have managed to erect barricades in hours. don't set fire to them until i give the order. this is a town i think bracing

for the possibility of a russian assault. they told us it's unlikely to be this night. i stand here: it maybe when the sunrises. that's unclear. it's vitally important. it is essentially a port city on the way to odesa. the black seacoast. without this it's difficult to imagine how the russians could hold the economic kind of life blood that is odesa. we have seen the past week a lot of attempts by the russian military to get into the town center. essentially have failed. the destruction the attacks, various other rocket attacks on suburban civilian areas. i think the fear now is maybe a new phase. the regional head said he believes russia will take this town at any cost. it's unclear what that means. certainly for the queues the lines of traffic we saw trying to get out of the city, there's

real nervousness ahead. >> we'll have much more from ukraine coming up. let's head to atlanta. >> we'll get back to you very soon. coming up. oil prices spike as the u.s. bans all russian energy imports. we'll have the latest in the live report. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, stelara® can provide relief, , and is te first approved medication to reduce inflammation on a and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine.

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welcome back, everyone. the u.s. has now banned russian energy imports. in the latest move meant to punish moscow for the assault on ukraine. one which could have a devastating impact on russia's struggling economy. uk and eu also announcing moves targeting russia oil and gas. now live from brussels with more on this. the u.s. has banned all russian energy imports. eu hasn't gone quite as far as that. what impact will all this likely have on vladimir putin and of course his war in ukraine? >> it's really an unprecedented move by the united states. to ban all russian oil.

united kingdom following suit. not quite saying they will ban all imports by the end of 2022. european union saying it is going to phase out the imports by 2030. they hope. this is going to have a limited impact. on the russian economy. because the united states really doesn't import all that much oil from russia as is. about 8% of oil and gas imports into the united states. in order for this to have a really big impact beyond just the symbolism, the european union would have to follow suit. the whole european block would have to follow and also ban all russian oil and gas. that is not looking like it's going to happen. of course they're hoping to phase it out. they rely on russian oil and gas for about 40% of their imports. of that material. it is going to be a lot more difficult for them to do this. however, it is a very symbolic move. something the united states has been weighing over the last

several weeks. of course as russia launch ds an invasion. they believe if the allies follow suit it will have a major impact. in the meantime the united states is seeking out additional countries that could potentially replace the oil that is lost by cutting off russia from the global economy. that brought in some of the countries from the cold. to say the least. like venezuela. united states has been weighing lifting sanctions on venezuela. so they can increase their oil production in attempt to make up for the lost production. in the meantime europe is fearful that russia could retaliate. by just cutting off immediately its gas, oil and gas exports to the block over the decision by germany to end the pipeline. in response to russia invasion. there are a lot of moving parts. the bottom line is that the united states decision alone to ban oil imports not going to

have a significant impact on the russian economy. but if european union follows suit, it very well could. >> all right. joining us live from brussels. many thanks. china president xi jinping says western sanctions on russia will be detrimental to the spire world. he voiced his opinion during a virtual summit. saying sanctions will affect not only russia but also the world finance, energy, transportation and supply line. notably president xi again refused to condemn russia invasion of ukraine. instead offering to mediate the crisis. >> there's a few hours left for south korea to vote for a new president. according to preelection polls there are two front runners in a tight race. vying to replace out going president.

the democratic party or the people power party. the winner will be faced with the ongoing challenge of the neighbor to the north. and when it comes to north korea, both candidates represent a very stark choice. joining me live from seoul with more on this. good to see you. what are the two different visions that each of these front runners offer the nation in the very tight and critical race? >> these two candidates are idealology opposed and also from day one have to focus and deal with the north korea who seems concerned with testing their weapons capability. and launching missiles. improving the capabilities. than talking either to south korea or to the united states. what we have on the liberal side from the party you have a former governor. of a provrns. and former mayor.

and he is really a appearing to follow the line of the current president. he does favor engagement with north korea. he favors the step by step process where as if north korea shows signs of denuclearization, some of the sanctions against them could be lifted. when it comes to the conservative party, he has a hard line approach. coming to north korea. he believes that there should be full denuclearization before sanctions do start to be lifted. now of course it woen just be north korea. they will deal with the u.s. china sanctions. south korea is walking a tight rope for many years. they have a strong security alliance with the united states. and yet they have a very large and growing economic relationship with china. lee said he believes he can continue to walk that tight rope. analysts say it's becoming more difficult. there will be pressure to

choose. and we have seen from the conservative side that he wants a stronger relationship with the u.s. and less so with china. of course you have the issue of russia invasion of ukraine. they will have to deal with from day one. and it is wort pointing out that neither one of them has foreign policy experience. one is a former governor. one is a former state prosecutor. they are not candidates who spent time in the national assembly. >> very important point. live from seoul. many thanks. the city of lviv. welcomes thousands of displaced ukrainians, the mayor is calling out for help. the things needed to take care of lviv's growing refugee population. when we return.

welcome back, everyone. this just in. ukrainian officials say they will implement temporary cease fire in some of the hardest hit cities today. in order to allow civilians to evacuate. earlier russian officials also promised to abide by cease fire rules. so far, it's unclear if any evacuations have actually under way. ukraine does say around 5,000 people were able to escape the city of sumy yesterday under a similar cease fire agreement.

four other evacuations proposed by moscow failed to materialize on tuesday. ukrainians objecting because most led into russia. the desperate race to escape fighting in ukraine fuelling another crisis. more than two million refugees have fled the country. making it the fastest growing refugee crisis europe has seen since world war ii. >> this will not be over soon. putin is fighting his war without restraint. or mercy. more is to come. worse is to come. millions more will flee. and we must welcome them. >> thousands have come here to lviv. to escape russian attacks. now the city is pretty much maxed out the resources. and is in desperate need of help to feed and house the influx of the displaced. it is a temporary stop for some.

many remain unsure of where to go from here. >> in one of the best known theaters in ukraine cultural capitol, lviv, no audience to be entertained. rather families seeking shelter from war. >> we never imagined we would end up living in a theater. we never imagined leaving our home. and fleeing our city. she fled kyiv two days ago to get her kids out of danger. leaving her mother and husband behind. now she contemplates what's to come. >> we're happy. and we have plans for future. for our babies. it was a happy future. >> throughout the russian invasion, lviv has been nervous but otherwise oasis of relative

quiet. that's made the city of destination for those running from where the shells are falling. most are moving onto the border. more than 200,000 have decided to stay here. lviv welcoming them. looking after them. now the city mayor says lviv is full. we need help. >> this has put a lot of pressure on us and i would like to address international organizations. asking for support. we need you now and here. >> pleading for tents, food, medical supplies. he says more than 400 cultural and educational facilities used to house the displaced. here a school, a place of learning in normal times. a place of refuge for families not knowing their next move. other than it won't be going home. >> it is difficult to imagine how this craziness began. for the sake of what. for what reason?

are they killing people. what have we done to deserve this? >> lviv historic city in need of help. the impact of the war being felt well away from the front lines. incredibly sad to see. think a month or so ago those people were in their homes. living normal lives. kids were going to school and now a lot of them are in places like that. not knowing if they'll have a home to go back to. thanks for spending part of your day with me. we pick up the coverage in a moment. a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis, ststelara® can providide relief, and is te first approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. you, getting on that flight? back off, uc! stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection,

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hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and right around the world. i'm isa soares in london. we are following the war in ukraine. >> from the u.s. perspective the end game is the strategic defeat of president pugh tip in this adventure. >> he's likely to double down and try to grind down the ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties. >> united states is targeting the main artery of russia's economy. >> his plans are please, we want to leave. we want to be happy. stop shooting. please. >> more is to come. worse is to come. it is wednesday, march 9th. 11:00 a.m. in ukraine. where their government has agreed to a russian proposal for a limited cease