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 and we are following breaking news coverage of the war in ukraine. just ahead right here on "cnn newsroom" -- >> the fact is that we've seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians which would under the geneva conventions constitute a war crime. >> russian forces are at the very least operating under the

safety of combatants. >> the nato alliance is stronger and russia is weaker because of what putin has done. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to the show, everyone. it is friday, march 11th. 11 a.m. in ukraine and we'll begin with breaking news. deadly explosions in the ukrainian city of dnipro as russia widens its attack across ukraine. more evidence that russia's even targeting civilians or doesn't care who they kill. ukraine's emergency service says russian strikes hit a preschool, shoe factory. one person was killed. and the mayor of lutsk reports another death when three missiles hit an airfield. authorities say alert systems

there further south did not work. meanwhile, russian forces appear to be closer to kyiv with a new offensive from the east. heavy fighting is reported in several towns near the ukrainian capitol and russians troops are moving in from an airport in the northwest about 15 kilometers or so, 9 miles from the city center. >> [ bleep ]. >> have a look at these dramatic pictures. ukrainian forces claim they have destroyed a russian tank regimen and killed its commander north of kyiv. global condemnation on the children and maternity hospital in mariupol.

the u.s. ambassador to the united nations accuses russia of war crimes. three people killed in the attack and more than a dozen are wounded. the city is encircled by russian forces. the situation, as you can imagine, is increasingly dire and desperate. u.s. vice president kamala harris on a visit to poland calls out the russian atrocities. the biden administration says civilians are being targeted. that should be investigated as possible war crimes. meanwhile, talks in turkey between the top russian and ukrainian diplomat produce no breakthroughs before the talks live on the show. sergei lavrov even denied that russia had attacked ukraine. ukraine's foreign minister took to social media to show the social impact of the war. he tweeted this video of six

orphans. one of the children looks unconscious. it's not clear if they were injured in the fighting. just heartbreaking to see these images. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says more than 100 thousand have been evacuated. russia is opening humanitarian corridors on a daily basis. you can see on this map really that the routes the refugees are taking to escape the fighting. the onslaught of the attacks against them. cnn has correspondents positioned around them covering the story for you. from ukraine, turkey, netherlands as well as romania. scott mclean is joining you from ukraine. we are looking at the struggling side of russian forces widening

the attack with the new offensive from the east. what more can you tell us about their advance? >> isa, yeah, there seems to be a shift in strategy from the russians getting further and further from the russian border. these are places that have not been hit before. dnipro, an airstrike, hitting an apartment, kindergarten and a two-story shoe store as well. in lutsk, which is not far from here in lviv, another airstrike hitting an airfield there. the mayor reportedly told the local new hampshire for people to get into shelters as soon as they could when the bombing started. and in ivano-frankivsk, southwestern ukraine, has not been a big target for russians in the past. these cities up until now were still relatively safe. so ivano-frankivsk has been a safe place for ukrainians to go.

we know a lot of people who have crossed the border know people in poland, they know people in other parts of europe, they have family there, a plan where they're going to go and where they're going to stay. not everyone, but many of them. a lot of people who have chosen to stay in ukraine are people perhaps who don't have connections outside the country and really don't want to leave. if they're forced out from those places, the u.n. has talked about this before, the concern is that the next wave of refugees is not going to have the same level of resources, not going to have the same connections outside the country and therefore will be a lot more vulnerable. if bombs were to start going off in lviv, you'd have 200,000 people looking to flee to the border and probably all at once. that's a whole new humanitarian crisis brewing. >> staying on the humanitarian crisis. the humanitarian corridor is going to continue today. what do we know about the

situation in mariupol that has been under siege for days? >> reporter: mayor spol a place president zelenskyy said he was sending a convoy of buses to pick people up and aid into yesterday. the difficulty is it appears none of it actually arrived. the mayor of mariupol said for the sixth straight day aid has not been able to get into the city. he accuses the russians of bombing the escape route, the corridors out of the city. russia for its part said just this morning through state media, russian defense officials are saying its own corridors have been opened unilaterally. many lead to russia and many to ukraine. but when it comes to mariupol, the only route out of the city that the russians have proposed goes russia. the ukrainians are trying to get people out in the opposite direction. the russians are proposing a coordination channel to try to make that happen. at this stage, days into the

attempts to make the corridors work, it is remarkable that hasn't happened already. previously the red cross working as an intermediary has criticized the two parties saying, look, you have to look at the details. it doesn't seem like there's very much of anything that's been agreed between the two sides in terms of these humanitarian corridors, a place like mariupol. >> and we did hear from the ukrainian side yesterday as they met in turkey yesterday. that was a priority. the priority was to focus on the cease-fire and on the humanitarian corridor as it relates to mariupol. scott mclean, appreciate it very much. the u.s. vice president meets with people in warsaw. kamala harris is on a diplomatic swing with nato's eastern bloc.

she's trying to assure eastern allies and the former soviet repu republic about what's going on. she told poland they were ready to defend every inch. she used forceful language to denounce what she called atrocities in ukraine. she stopped short of calling them war crimes and is calling on the u.n. to investigate. meanwhile, european union leaders are meeting in france, the focus of the summit. how to counter the russian invasion. you are looking at live pictures coming from france and there's a strong push you can get underway to show unity as well as resolve but there are divisions. we've been outlining them here on cnn before this war began. amongst them eu members. a day earlier the foreign ministers of ukraine and russia met in turkey but there was no

significant progress. the ukrainian president's office said we're ready to talk to the russian president whenever he is ready. cnn's jomana koradshi is standing by. it's clear the message is a show of unity. what can we expect from these talks here? >> reporter: a show of unity. emmanuel macron is holding this summit in versailles. they want to kick start the idea of european sovereignty. with europeans having shown the response, they can come together and act as a block in other areas. for instance, how to deal with the macro economic fallout over what is happening as a result of

this war. most interestingly the ukrainian access into the european union. they're asking for the process to be fast tracked. this is one of the sources of division within europe with some countries, the baltic countries in particular hoping that some fast-track process might be found. other countries like the netherlands, more skeptical. here's what the prime minister had to say yesterday on that very question, isa. >> there is a request for candidate membership in ukraine and that is in process and we have fast-tracked sending that onto the commission. it will take time. months, maybe years before you get to anything.

>> reporter: months, maybe years. in the meantime, isa. they're looking for ways to send a strong signal to kyiv. in the end, the statement that was published at 3 a.m. last night, the unanimous statement from the 27 is that ukraine should be told it is firmly a part of the european family. >> do stay with us, melissa. i want to bring in jomana in turkey. you and i were talking yesterday. we heard from the ukrainians saying they are ready to talk to putin. they believe this can happen? >> reporter: look, this is what they're working towards, isa. they have been for weeks, isa, even before the start of the war. turkish officials, president erdogan has been working the phones. he has been talking to both president zelenskyy and putin trying to bring them together and they have continued to push

for this. turkey is saying, look, we're not hosts of these talks. we want to be facilitators. we are mediators. they are trying to utilize that strong relationship, isa, that they have with both ukraine and russia. turkey a key nato country but it still maintains strong ties with russia, economic ties, defense ties. and presidents putin and erdogan do have a good working relationship. they are trying to use that position to try and bring both sides together. we heard from the turkish foreign minister saying yesterday in president erdogan's calls with putin, the last call was last weekend, at least that's what they announced publicly. in that phone call president putin told erdogan he is not opposed to talks with president zelenskyy in principle. so turkey is trying to push it.

they believe the meeting held here between the two foreign ministers, that could possibly pave the way for the talks. they are continuing to push and they believe this is the only way ahead. they are going to try and pursue the diplomatic path. you know, we heard from, as you mentioned, the ukrainians saying they are -- president zelenskyy is ready for these talks. so we'll have to wait and see if turkey is going to be able to make this happen. they are clearly saying that they are continuing to push for this because there is this realization, isa, that no matter what officials need, no matter what delegations you send to these talks, if there is going to be any sort of agreement, if there is going to be any sort of cease-fire, that is going to be the decision of one man and that is vladimir putin. >> yeah, indeed. no breakthrough but like you said before, joe man that.

you'll stay on top of that. thank you both, ladies. hundreds of thousands are making the arduous journey across ukrainian borders in hopes of reaching safety. just ahead, how one country is dealing with it. millions have crossed the border into poland and many are children. i'll speak with a unicef spokesman about what he's seeing up close and the toll it is taking on the most innocent of victims. that is next.

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that's a hard thing to do. cnn's miguel marquez has more now from romania. maybe in southern ukraine. . artillery. to pack up with two kids, her mother and her children's god mother. parents, grandparents.

a degree and everyone will be okay but who knows when. >> trying to get to bucharest to friends in poland. one story of millions. families now being torn apart in ukraine and across europe. >> we will see people who are without capabilities, without possibilities, financial possibilities who are running from war. >> transformed into refugees increasing exponentially as russia continues punishing attacks on civilian and military targets alike. >> we don't know what is coming and how many people are coming to bucharest. as far as we know, the people coming here are only in transit. but we don't know how many people come so we need to be prepared. >> romanians not waiting to receive ukrainian refugees. now they're collecting and

organizing massive amounts of humanitarian supplies all to be shipped directly to ukraine. >> they need drugsz. they need medical kits and they need food that can be preserved. >> did you ever think you'd nb this situation? >> no. i mean, war in 2022, it's unbelievable. cnn. >> more than one place, most of t them. the fighting. across the border on their own and killed. it has been talked about by

unicef. joe, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. he says the number of refugees. i know that half of them are staggering. >> thanks, isa. >> eight million. so in the space of just a few days, the kids are getting sick and along the way. they reach the border and they are here but now what? incredible volunteer, warm

clothes, food, meals. they are making sure they get to uzbekistan. >> these children as we've just seen from that report are leaving behind the only world they knew. safety, comfort. talk to us about the impact this has on children, the trauma of war here. >> completely. they've had their lives turned upside down. for those who have been directly exposed to the violence, you can't begin to imagine what this can do to a young child's life. they are making a journey, unsure where they are going and how long they can be away.

one of the senses, a little girl is saying they are sad. eyes facing down. they can begin to unpack this cover. as millions of stories are told. >> they have set up blue dots, i believe, safe spaces for travel families. is that when you're taking the time to explain to the families.

take a load off their feet and relax. decompress. it also means we can talk to specialists, counselors on hand and it can begin to work. this is a huge issue. there is a very real risk of traffic. >> let me ask you about the voting site.

. 2.5 million or more. they've been trying. talk to us about what you're hearing on the ground inside ukraine. >> exactly. they are reports that come up. it is horrific. children are among the rubble, pregnant women. if we're going to be able to reach george began families in need, we need safe, unfettered access to every child in ukraine. >> very briefly, are these working in your opinion, joe?

>> i think in terms of we need humanitarian access. so what's clear really is people in ukraine and we need to be at the border for safety. >> joe english, thank you very much for yourself and your entire team. do keep in touch and stay safe. thank you very much, joe english from unicef. >> thank you, isa. if you would like to help people in ukraine in need of shelter, food, water, please go to cnn.com/impact. there you will find several ways that you can help. right now cnn.com/impact. people in the besieged city of mariupol may be suffering the most. they've been under constant russian bombardment and many cannot escape.

ahead, their latest plea to the world. russia's allegation of chemical weapons has revealed vladimir putin's strategy. more on that. you are watching "cnn newsroom."

if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our breaking news. we've seen deadly explosions in a number of ukrainian cities. the country's emergency services said the russian airstrikes on dnipro hit a preschool, an apartment building as well as a shoe factory. at least one person was killed. the mayor of lutsk near the

border of poland reports another death when missiles hit an airfield. heavy fighting in several towns near the ukrainian capitol. russian forces moving close to kyiv from the east and the northwest. ukrainian forces claim they have destroyed a russian tank regimen in an ambush north of kyiv. it is the port city of mariupol that may be enduring the worst of the russian wrath. the mayor accusing the kremlin of genocide. no aid has been reaching the city in a week. some 400,000 people have been held hostage. the ukrainian building was shelled on thursday. it killed three people. warning, there are images in our next report that may be difficult to watch. those show some of the ukrainian civilians harmed by the relentless attacks on mariupol. cnn's phil black has that story.

>> reporter: when you hear ukrainian city is under siege, cut off and under bombardment by russian forces, this is what that means. no one knows how many people have been killed in mariupol, but it's too many to allow the care and dignity that usually comes with death. relatively few images have escaped mariupol since the siege began. these were captured by an ap photo journalist who says he saw around 70 bodies buried in this trench over two days. they arrived wrapped in whatever people could find and use, plastic bags, even carpet. this shows why it's likely there are many more. mariupol suffering from above. before and after satellite images reveal extraordinary devastation in commercial and shopping areas, residential neighborhoods, too. russian munitions are steadily

wiping out this city. it's already unlivable. there is no food, water, or power. >> translator: ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskyy says a child in mariupol has died of dehydration, probably for the first time since the nazi invasion. during a meeting in turkey the ukrainian foreign minister said he asked his russian counterpart for a humanitarian corridor to allow people to leave mariupol. >> unfortunately minister lavrov was not able himself to commit, but he will correspond with respective authorities. >> translator: that means sergei lavrov has to ask his boss. russia's top diplomat was comfortable with repeating the reason for bombing a maternity hospital. >> the russian version says there were no patients or staff

in the building, just soldiers. this is the reality captured in the moments immediately after the blast. an obviously pregnant woman is stretchered from the sight, another hurt, bleeding, walks out carrying what she can. russians often honored, the bravery and determination showed by their own citizens who are besieged by nazi forces in the second world war. now russia is inflicting that same suffering on the people of mariupol. phil black, cnn, london. russia's foreign minister says that suffering is at the hands of someone else, not russia. >> translator: at the meeting of the u.n. security council our delegation presented facts about this maternity hospital having long been seized by the azof ba tallian and other radicals and they have driven all the pregnant women and the nurses out of it and set up a base for

the ultra radical azof of ukraine. two weeks after the attack of ukraine they had a bizarre recollection of the attack. >> we do not plan to attack other countries and we did not attack ukraine. >> clearly insinuating ukraine is attacking its own people. the country is wheepg a chemical weapons attack. ukraine has 80 million tons of ammonia ready for the attack. if you want to know russia's plans, look at what russia accuses others of. nina dos santos joins us from london. nina, some of these claims are so baseless and they go back a few years now. it's been circulating for quite a while. how is the u.s. and ukrainians, how are they countering this narrative from russia. >> it's not just ukraine, i

reported in the baltic states and there were various fake news articles linked to russian websites. it talked about mustard gas. this is something that you often see as a narrative. most alarmingly we started it here, u.k. parlamentarians started warning about this before the united kingdom and united states saying they were very, very concerned about false flag operations that could essentially use this pretexts, this talk of having chemical weapons engaging in a chemical weapons attack. where we've seen this before, russia played a big hand backing bashar assad. this is why the west is extremely concerned. russia has asked for a u.n. security council meeting talking about what they believe is evidence that there are biological weapons facilities

supported they say by the united states in the territory of ukraine. that's something that both the ukraine and the u.s. deny. they say, no, the opposite is happening. that's what they're worried about. the fear that putin could deploy chemical weapons is real. >> what are nato allies saying? >> they're very concerned about it. this is an escalation where russia was talking about u.k. facilities. we spent much of last week being concerned about the rachetting up of tensions surrounding whether or not russia believes nato might get involved by helping give arms to ukrainian soldiers, planes to ukraine. we saw all of that talk of poland putting its mig planes ukrainian pilots can fly at the disposal of ukraine. the united states decided not to do that. they didn't want to, if you like, poke the russian bear on

the subject. all of that was designed not to escalate this conflict into a third world war and also potentially nuclear war. sergei lavrov has made it clear, another third world war would from the russian point of view be nuclear. now we're into another paradigm which is extremely sinister and it is the concept of potential chemical weapons being used here. >> we have heard from boris johnson who has spoken about this. >> i'm glad you reminded me about that. he spoke to sky news and he said it's this technique that we're particularly worried about. this potential for talking up a deniable attack. >> this that you're hearing about chemical weapons. this is straight out of their playbook. they start saying that there are chemical weapons that are being stored by their opponents or by the americans and so when they themselves deploy chemical

weapons as i fear they may, they have a sort of a fake story ready to go. >> one thing is he isn't mentioning the word red line which is what happened all those years ago in syria. we'll have our eyes on that. >> thanks very much. well, we now want to show you really a surveillance between nato and russia. the alliance is flying planes keeping an eye on russian news in russian air space. cnn news was on board of one of the planes. the flight spotted russian made aircraft of ukraine that didn't come from russia. >> reporter: cnn was granted rare access to a nato surveillance flight that was moni monitoring russian activity in

nato air space. what we're told on board today is they were able to see on their radar russian made jets taking off from belarus and entering ukrainian air space. it was unclear as to who was flying those jets, whether they were russian or belorussian because both sides fly the same kind of aircraft. they agree this has been taking off from belarus in support of the military operations inside of ukraine. they say this is yet another example of how important belarus has become to supporting russia's war in ukraine. natasha bertrand, netherlands. well, the u.k. is sanctioning more russians. what that means for the multi-billion dollar sale of the club next. americans are paying more than ever for gasoline. we ask how motorists there are coping. visiblbly diminish wrinkled skin in...

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americans are seeing record high prices to fuel up their cars. the price for a gallon of gas has risen 78 cents since russia first invaded ukraine. you can see the unprecedented spike will take a significant chunk out of household budgets and there's concern the higher prices may hurt the broader economy by forcing families to cut back on sending. cnn's alison kosik takes a look. >> reporter: from the grocery store to the gas station, we're spending more on just about everything. >> most of our gas station is expensive anywhere you go. >> reporter: national average price for a gallon of gasoline jumped by another 7 cents to a fresh record of $4.32 on thursday according to aaa. that's up 59 cents in one week and 78 cents since the start of russia's invasion of ukraine. we've never seen gas prices in the u.s. run up so quickly. moody's analytics predicting

families will pay up to $1300 more this year just to fill up the tank. >> i worry. higher energy prices are likely to exexacerbate the price of food, clothing and cars. they're a major exporter. current supply chain disruptions causing even more sticker shock when buying a new or used car. they allow more drilling for oil in the u.s. industry analysts tell cnn that is unrealistic for a number of reasons. the type of oil the u.s. produces is not the kind used to make gasoline and the global supply of oil determines gas prices. not just oil that's drilled in the u.s.

>> now that was alison kosik reporting. the u.k. government has sanctioned the b chelsea fc owner. now his assets are frozen and transactions are prohibited. amanda davies looks at what this means for one of the world's biggest football clubs. >> he has always publicly tried to distance himself and this football club from the politics that are now firmly at the center of it with the u.k. government sanctions imposed to expressly stop him benefitting from the dhelchelsea ownership. they're causing the russians complicit in putin's objections. the day-to-day running of a football club pales into insignificance. this is one of the biggest

football clubs in the world. they make things difficult for them in terms of conducting transfers, travel cost restrictions and limiting the sale of tickets. certainly been strange here with the closing of the club shop and the hotel on site not being able to take reservations or even sell. the club is hoping they can negotiate new terms which means they can operate in as normal a way as possible. there's hope the sale of the club will be able to continue if they can prove proceeds won't be lining the russian's pocket, but this is unchartered territory. for the club, for the premier league and for the u.k. government, the man hossa rifle heralded the most successful period of chelsea's history is set to depart leaving them with their most uncertain future. amanda davis, cnn, stafford bridge, london. ukraine's first lady is turning to social media to show the realities of war. we'll look at how she's garnering international

awareness for the country and her life before her current role. that's after the break.

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well, we've heard a lot lately about president zelenskyy but the first lady is using social media to fight back by showing the real, as well as horrifying scenes, in the country. sunlen serfaty has the story for you. >> reporter: ukraine's first lady not mincing words, saying russia is conducting the mass murder of ukrainians, giving what she calls her own testimony from ukraine in a lengthy open letter posted in several languages. when russia says it is not waging war, i call out the names of these murdered children first. addressing some of the youngest victims of the war by name. since the start of the invasion, the 44-year-old has weaponized her social media, showing gritty wartime pictures and videos reflecting the reality of the

war. this is how ukraine looks right now, she wrote last week. the whole world, look. her path to her perch in this global crisis started out reluctantly. i was not too happy when i realized those were the plans, she said of her husband running for president, famously first learning of his run on social media. when i asked, why didn't you tell me? he answered, i forgot. in the three years since, she has settled into her role as the first lady, taking on women's rights and children's issues and featured in a glossy spread on the cover of vogue ukraine. she first met the future president in college. their relationship growing into love years later. like her husband, she, too, worked in entertainment as a script writer writing comedy behind the scenes at the same studio as her husband. i am a non-public person, she said of herself.

i prefer staying backstage. my husband is on the forefront while i feel more comfortable in the shade. her two young children she is fiercely protective of. the family of four now at the epicenter of war. >> translator: i was marked as target number one. my family is target number two. >> reporter: so many others are looking to her for strength in this moment. sunlen serfaty, cnn. >> the power couple trying to defend their country. thank you for your company. our breaking news coverage of the war in ukraine continues with alex marquardt, brianna keilar. you are watching cnn.

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this is cnn breaking news. good morning to viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is friday, march 11th. i'm here with alex marquardt in lviv, ukraine. breaking news, major cities in ukraine, lutsk and dnipro, air strikes. three air stakes hit a