wade. he is the director for the unicef organization doctors without borders. alex, you've been in ukraine now and i know you've been doing this work for years. you just arrived in the city of dunipro. what can you say about that city? >> it's a place that have received many displaced, who have come from elsewhere, and who have come here to move further west or have come here to settle down to remain safe. it is also where the organization is trying to regroup to mount an emergency response to places in dire need east, south and north of here. so we hope it will remain a safe location. >> i know you've been in contact with a connection you have in mariupol where the situation is clearly very dire there. >> it's catastrophic. i mean, we were saying it was

dire over a week ago. it's only gotten worse every day since. at this point, we were saying it was going to be a disaster. the disaster is now unfolding in front of us. we already know from our staff we've communicated with that vulnerable groups such as people with chronic conditions who needed access to medical care have already started to die. we know that there have been numerous deaths due to the violence and bombing in the city. our staff has also informed us they've seen neighbors digging holes in their own backyards to bury bodies of their neighbors. this is an absolute nightmare. and we know that water and food are running out, or for many of the population, have already run out for several days. so we will now start seeing people dying of hunger and dehydration if something isn't done immediately. >> i know president zelenskyy had said a child days ago had

already died of dehydration. we got word today that the large convoy of humanitarian aid destined for mariupol was unable to make it there today. what are the immediate needs -- i've also heard that people in mariupol really can't contact people outside, so they don't have a sense of what's going on in the greater ukraine. >> this has added to the tragedy. people have no idea what's going on outside ukraine, they have no idea what's going on with their friends and family in neighboring villages. they are unable to inform loved ones they're still alive and well. they're also unable to communicate those who died to loved ones who might want to know, and they have no idea what's going on. they also are not aware of when there's discussions around safe passage out of the city which so many of the population want. they are unaware of these discussions taking place, so they don't know when they can leave safely or not. this is, again, one of the

biggest problems is making sure that safe passage can occur and that the population is aware of it and is able to leave. but as the days go on and the health, mental and physical, of the population of near 400,000 people start to deteriorate, it will be almost impossible to leave by their own means. >> i've heard you say ukraine is in the disaster phase. what does that mean and how does it affect the work you have to do? >> i would put that specifically to mariupol. we can use words like disaster and catastrophe when we've been saying them for about a week now and we don't start to see any improvement, they start to sound quite hollow. it's really just sounding the alarm we're going to have a catastrophe unfolding in front of our eyes of thousands and thousands of people dying if we don't find a way to either get resources in to mariupol, water, food, medical supplies for the

hospital, or/and allow people to leave and seek safety wherever they might want to find it. >> you mention the the mariupol people digging graves in their backyards for family members or for neighbors. we saw also there images of a mass grave that has been dug with reportedly dozens of people placed in it. what does it tell you about a situation that officials dig a mass grave in a city like mariupol? >> anderson, i think it just shows you how catastrophic the conditions are, that people have to take it upon themselves to bury their neighbors, that people are afraid to leave the city because if they try to, they will be met with possible violence and death. and it really is a signal of how catastrophic the situation is. it is probably also linked to the functioning of the hospitals. it shows that the entire health

system is not able to function as it normally should with ambulances with a system in place when the health system is operating correctly. it shows that many systems are failing and reflects the enormous medical needs of a population. >> alex wade, i so appreciate the work that you and doctors without borders does. thank you very much. >> thank you. as horrific as this war has already been, the underlying concern from the outset has always been escalation, either deliberate or accidental. the two world's nuclear superpowers are now close to one another and one of the two are lobbing at targets dangerously close by. it makes you wonder what happens if nuclear missiles hit poland.

>> the president has been clear that he will work with every irc inch of nato territory, and i mean every inch. if there is an attack of nalto attack, it would be against article 5. if they take a shot at nato territory, the nato alliance would respond to that. >> so more now on the state department stakes. kelly atwood is there for us tonight. president zelenskyy says it's only a matter of time before russian missiles fall on nato territory. they said it was part of a plea for a no-fly zone. russian attacks are obviously getting close to the border. what is the state department now saying? >> reporter: the biden administration repeatedly has been very clear. they don't have any intention of

getting u.s. troops involved in the war in ukraine. but as you said, there are a few complicating factors here, the first of which the russians are now firing on western ukraine. of course, that is close to the polish border. over the weekend there was a military base close to the polish border that was hit, and the national security adviser in that clip you just played from this morning was very clear in saying that if there is an attack on a nato country, of course, poland being one of those countries, that would trigger a response by the nato alliance, including the united states. this could get tricky because, of course, as pointed out, there could be missiles accidentally fired into poland. but he was clear if there is any missile that goes into a nato country, there will be a response. i also think it's important to note that the other complicating factor here is the concern that russia could carry out a chemical weapons attack in ukraine. and we have seen president biden say that there would be very

severe consequences for russia if they did that, but not being explicit about what those consequences would be. and over the weekend, we heard from the polish president who said if russia did that, that would be a game changer and nato would really have to think about what its response looks like. >> we've learned now that russia is asking china for military help. is it clear when they asked or even if china responded? >> listen, what we know so far is they asked for the military assistance after the invasion began, right? it's not like russia went to china before in the interim when they were planning to carry out this attack and said, we're going to need your help on this one. they did it after they had already begun the invasion. we don't know exactly why that is the case, and we also don't know exactly what the chinese said in response. but we do know that u.s. officials are tracking this.

they say they are concerned about any support that china could provide to russia in this circumstance. they also said that they're concerned about military -- excuse me -- economic support that china could provide with sanctions relief and the like to russia. so this is something they're clearly watching. national security adviser jake sullivan is meeting with his chinese counterpart tomorrow in rome. anderson? >> kylie at wwood, thank you. let's talk to attorney general james clapper. now that russia has attacked so close to the polish border. a military target but close to the board nonetheless. >> it's obviously of grave concern, and i just think, anderson, it's a question of time. it's not if, it's when we have some sort of confrontation that we're going to have to respond to, the nato will have to respond to. so whether the russians do

something intentionally or unintentionally and strike some part of nato territory, you know, we're going to have to live up to our word. that's one condition. the other, as the previous segment indicated, which i also expect, is if the russians use chemical weapons in a siege of kyiv where the resistance is even after -- even if they succeed in surrounding the city and starving it out and bombarding it into rubble, i think they'll still run into resistance. they, i think, will be very te tempted to use chemical weapons. those two conditions, i think, are upon us and i think in both cases it's just a question of time. >> to that point, you heard national security adviser jake sullivan say if they got into

polish territory, nato would respond. is it clear to you what sort of options there are? >> well, yeah, i've thought about that, and with all humility here as an armchair analyst with no responsibility, one set of options that might be considered is some facility, some target that had a bearing on what happened. if you could, you know, hit the base from which -- assuming it's from within ukraine from which a missile or rocket was fired, or in the case of chemical weapons, something in the chain, evidentiary chain, in the use of chemical weapons so that you would do damage and also convey a message. now, again, i'm just an armchair analyst here, but it would be

those kind of things, and certainly keep it don conventio to be clear, that i think the department of defense would be considering, anyway, to recommend to the president. >> it certainly seems like a number -- actually, all of the russian strikes in the west just in the last several days have been aimed at airfields in two cases and in the case of what happened just yesterday or early this morning -- the timing is a little bit confusing here -- a military base. it certainly seems like trying to stop the flow of weapons, trying to stop as much as possible or hinder the flow of any supplies coming from the west is a prime interest for russia right now. >> yeah, i think it's that, and i also think there is a degree of messaging, a certain amount of messaging here since

essentially the western portion of ukraine has pretty much been, for the most part, exempt. so i think the russians want to convey a message and specifically those facilities that might be aiding in the flow of supplies. and for that matter, we've already crossed putin, by the putin's red lines by providing stingers and javelins which have caused the deaths of probably thousands of russian soldiers and lots of russian equipment. so, you know, the confrontation is already -- the game is on, i guess. >> obviously the situation here and presumably the intelligence as well is changing. if you were advising president biden right now, what would you tell him? >> about what the russians are

going to do? >> yeah, about what the russians are going to do, what u.s. options may be just in terms of continuing supplying. >> well, as the intelligence person on it, i would try to be -- restrict my comments probably to intelligence matters only what the russians are going to do. putin is committed to conquering, if he can, which i think will be impossible, all of ukraine. and that's why i find the notion of negotiating with him kind of a lost cause at this point. that's pretty clear. i think it's very probable he'll use chemical weapons at some point. and i think that this is going to get more brutal and more -- there's going to be more of the

graphic, wanton brutality that they've witnessed. we're going to have more of that, and we do need to be prepared to live up to what we said essentially -- that phrase not used, red line, but we've issued a couple red lines already. jamie sullivan did this morning. >> yeah. general clapper, thank you. our staff writer susan glasser, and later with the number of refugees growing, approaching 3 million, one of the busiest stopoff points on the planet. what it's like in poland.

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we've been talking about that missile strike which was just some 15 miles from the polish border, 26 miles from here in lviv. also the possibility of russia turning to china for help for

military aid, according to a u.s. official, chemical and biological weapons which general clapper was just talking about. all of this suggests war in some pretty dark areas. let's get perspective from cnn global affairs analyst and staffwriter susan glasser. susan, thank you for being with us. how significant do you think it is that russia is asking for both military and economic assistance now from china? >> well, it's very significant. first of all, it suggests that this kind of notion of an axis of autocracies is beginning to take shape, in part just because russia has become a prize state when it comes to the west because they have no where else to turn. i think it's a very important decision point for china as well, how much are they willing to double down and embrace russia at a moment when russia is being isolated from the rest of the world, and what are the consequences from china if it

chooses, once again, to go in that direction. >> i mean, it would certainly complicate the situation here if china were to agree to that. obviously providing economic support to russia right now would be a direct violation of the sanctions put in place. >> well, that's exactly right. i think it really is a decision point for china. it's interesting because there was just this meeting between vladimir putin and x eni jinpin right before the olympics opened when they announced not a specific alliance but a close alignment between the two countries, including a 5,000-word, essentially shared mission statement that spoke of a world of challenging, existing western institutions and the united states. but did china really bargain for the kind of war that putin has now unleashed and the kind of global isolation that's come along with it.

it's not entirely clear, which is why i think it's an important moment for china to see whether putin is willing to go all the way with vladimir putin or not. >> you know, the biden administration is careful not to use that term "red line" when asked about the possibility of a chemical strike by russia. general clapper, right before the commercial, was talking about -- in fact, the united states has already kind of laid down some red lines, just not really using that term. jake sullivan, as we mentioned, talking about the need to respond or the need to defend nato if there was some sort of strike in poland or one of the other nato countries. well, that's right. first of all, there is a big question because does vladimir putin think he's already in a war with us, even if we're eager to communicate, no, we are not engaging directly with you. so i think that's one worry,

have we already crossed vladimir r putin's lines. but i think the very real fear is that putin has used these kinds of weapons before. putin has shown, when backed into a corner before, his corner. people are outraged at what they're seeing coming out of ukraine, and if putin was to take the next step, that puts incredible political pressure on biden and nato to get closer and closer to being in the fight themselves. >> i wonder what you think about the possibility of there being some sort of negotiated settlement in the offing. i mean, certainly when they met last thursday, there was some

hope about that, but it seems like nothing came out of it. the some had thought vladimir putin was backing off about deunification of ukraine. ly -- they've been seeing some things that they think they'll receive concrete results in the next few days. how realistic do you think that is? >> you know, you don't want to rule out diplomacy. in fact, uts rlt a lot of people continue and just have it on the flat. >> reporter:s and it seems to me that's the point where vladimir

putin is out by now, especially because he's thrown his entire economy into turmoil. he's coste moeshl places. and he got out of the war without overlooking any of his objectives. how that's going to miraculously happen. it seems to me not only are they still engaged, but there are intermedias. with putin, i've seen it important, but i've seen it too many times before where people are looking for putin to take offramps he's not interested in, and he's playing just a very dirnt game. >> susan glasser, thank you etch. >> with all the talk now willy.

they are already in contact with russia and are fighting the informational war. is. beijing stresses its impartiality in the conflict, even indicating its willingness to be a mediator. coverage in the state and controlled social media tells a very different story. cnn combing through chinese tv and digital news reports in the first eight days of the russian attack, along with thousands of social media posts from the outlets. >> our findings? china has largely adopted russia's talking points, actively helping the kremlin

disseminate its version of the bloody war to millions here and beyond. >> reporter: the chinese foreign ministry has yet to respond to our request for comment. but remember, russian president vladimir putin's last foreign visit before he launched the invasion was here to china. following the 38th meeting between putin and xi jinping in 2013 and just hours before the opening ceremony of the winter olympics, the two governments declared a partnership with no limits. china and russia's increasingly close ties included their message on the global stage. it allowed the dkremlin to playa role in the disinformation plane. russian officials quickly allege that he had scattered the country. minutes later there was a news

report that zelenskyy had left kyiv. they post aid cctv alert. #russ #russiasayszelenskyyleftkyiv, yet it supposedly wasn't valid. the memo directed staff not to public anything negative about russia or pro west. it was mistakenly posted on the outlet social media account before being set to private and deleted. cnn has found that china's major tv outlets seem to be following that playbook. as for the post between february 23rd and march 3rd, 46% contained pro-russia comments compared to 5% of pro-ukraine statements. roughly 35% of the posts included attacks on the u.s. and its allies.

with reports by russia state media outlets being banned by media, chinese state media is spreading and amplifying putin's narrative on air and online, around the clock and across the globe. >> that's what's happening in china. meanwhile, the state house is warning warning that vladimir putin may be laying out a chemical attack on ukraine. what would russpresident biden f they did wage a chemical a atta? that ahead. boost® high proteiein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. ♪ ♪

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said putin probably will use chemical weapons in the future if unable to make progress on the assault on kyiv. the white house is giving threats to president putin but stop short on what they will do if he wages a chemical attack. >> it is a very legitimate concern, fear that russia would use chemical weapons in ukraine. as the president said on friday, if russia were to use chemical weapons in ukraine, they would pay a severe price. and i'm going to leave it at that. >> we don't know all the chemical agents that russia might have in its arsenal. we do know that aides suffered severe issues from chemical weapons in the past. he was taking on a russian favorite opponent. he was badly disfigured, as you see, nearly killed by dioxide poisoning, alleging that the

russians were never involved. there was stephen scruple and his daughter in the united kingdom. they survived. alexei navalny was also poisoned with aaa food agent. the question, would america put a severe price on russia as the biden administration claims if russia uses chemical weapons now? i'm going to talk to jodi warwick, author of "red line."

how likely do you think it is that putin might resort to using chemical weapons? >> well, chemical weapons is a desperation weapon. we should put that on the table first. if we could avoid doing that, because i think he understands what the backlash could be, but it's something he has in his back pocket. it might be murky. we know russia has military grade amusement, but the other possibility is he could use another chemical such as chlorine which is tox womentoxic and has been used in another issue and

could be used as well. >> what russia accuses others of doing is something they might do themselves, accusing ukraine of having military bio labs. it seems it could be a precursor to that. >> that's very much in the playbook, to raise the possibility the other side is about to do something as cover to do it yourself. in syria this has played out so well many times where the syrians have again and again accused the rebels being the ones responsible for the chemical weapons attacks even though investigators have said this is a syria offense. russia has pushed these talking points, they even put them on social media. but to throw up so much dust and make it so confusing that people just give up trying to figure out what the truth is.

as long as they don't use the muscles themselves, uts-- missi themselves, they can be identified. >> how hard is it not to use a chemical weapon? >> this is the agency that tried to skill the skeetballs in 2013? if someone in the world should have, it dissipates quickly when you use it. it evaporate ds in the atmosphere so we creating who is responsible would have required having specters on the ground. the forensics would be very, very difficult and i think putin might be counting on that. if he does use chemicals in sort of a non-conventional way to

demoralize the opposition, he can claim having nothing to do with it and it will be hard for the rest of the world to make a clear case, quickly at least, that it was him. >> poland's president said today if vladimir putin uses any chemical or biological weapons in ukraine, it would be a, quote, game changer. it's not clear exactly what that means. dr. clapper was saying any kind of response or if a missile or a conventional missile fell in a nato territory, there would be some sort of response, but likely one option, at least, would be to try to keep it limited to wherever the source of that missile came from where the source of this specific incident came from and not enlarge it to a superpower confrontation. >> yeah. one problem with chemical weapons is they often will spread, so if you have a toxic, you know, substance used on the border near poland, there is a possibility that chemical could spread across the border and

then you have this additional kpl complication of maybe an inadvertent spread to a nato country which would really confuse the potential response. i think everybody is very much on alert right now. they're watching for something if it happens in this chemical weapons arena is so very dangerous for many reasons, and yet you see him being calibrated in his response because arsenals are limited and they're difficult when you're dealing with a country with nuclear weapons. >> joby warrick, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. nearly 2.7 million ukrainiaians have fled to the bordrder of popoland, next. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. ♪ ♪

the flow of women and children across the border here only is continuing. nearly 2.7 million refugees have so far fled ukraine. i'm going to get an update on poland with ed lavandera tonight. ed, talk about what you've been seeing today. >> reporter: throughout the night here in the border town of medyka, poland, we've witnessed the crossing of thousands of ukranian refugees making their way this evening. it's slowed down a little bit, but this is one of the most recent buses that has already been filled up with ukranian refugees. this bus will go to a temporary shelter in a nearby town, and from there over the next couple of days, these refugees will begin trying to figure out where they can go next. they have been making their way. we've talked to a number of them

throughout the evening, so anderson, who say they have spent the day -- let me get out of way of a few of them here -- riding buses from the interior parts of ukraine to make it to this point. one family had been on a bus since 7:00 in the morning and made it here after midnight. so a long, arduous journey through obviously territory in ukraine that is very much a dangerous war zone situation. so these people making their way through very treacherous situations. many of them arriving here, anderson, leaving their homeland in the darkness, completely unsure if they'll ever see their homeland in the light again. anderson? >> how long -- i mean, are there still those long lines of cars? early on, this was two weeks ago, we were seeing people waiting for 24 or 48 hours in vehicles coming across. it seems much more streamlined now.

>> reporter: it does. we've been asking them if, on the other side of the border, on the ukranian side, our vantage is very difficult to see. but it kind of ebbs and flows throughout the course of the day. some tell us there have been waits of seven hours to get across the checkpoint into poland here. now in the overnight hours, it seems to be quicker, but it really kind of depends how many people are arriving by bus or on foot at these border checkpoints. then a little bit further interior here in poland, there are trains that are also coming from places like lviv and odesa, ukraine. and those trains are making it a little bit further into the sup interior, and that is where they are crossing the border checkpoints and getting into poland as well. there are various ways people are checking to get to this point anddepending on the time of day and how many refugees are arriving at any given time could dictate how long it takes to get into

poland. really the uncertainty starts now, because so many of the communities along this part of the polish border are essentially filled up, either in people's homes or shelters, and the process now really begins for them spending the next couple of days figuring out where else in europe they can go. at this point they're not really sure, are they going for a couple weeks or a couple months? some people we spoke to really talked about their home in the past tense. >> ed lavandera, i appreciate you being there. thank you. coming up, we'll turn to the american chef who is helping provide meals to refugees in poland along the border with ukraine. his name is mark murphy. he's helping the kitchen do some incredible things. why did you want to be here? >> you know, i was sitting at home, i was in new york city, and i've been watching the news like everybody else, and i'm a chef. i need to help, i need to contribute. i'm not really good at sitting around during times of trouble

and not helping. chefs are always ready to jump in and help out, and i felt like i needed to do this. i felt like we just went through covid. there was friends of mine who had restaurants and were helping feed people. i couldn't do that much. i didn't have any restaurants at that time, so i decided i just had to do it. i couldn't -- it's easier for me to work, and while there's other things going on in life, and it makes me feel good and it makes me feel like i'm contributing. i just had to get on a plane and come over here. >> it's interesting, because having a restaurant is a very hands-on thing. i know you had television commitments. i think you were supposed to shoot some tv shows with bobby flay. you basically just cleared your schedule and came here. >> yeah. this is more important than anything else. yeah, i was supposed to do d-- e a guest host on his show, which i love and bobby is a good friend, and i just called him and said, listen, i'm going to

do this so you'll have to find somebody else. i had some other commitments and people understand. this is something that's bigger than me. i had to do this. >> it's actually a unique model. they stand up restaurants, they fund other kitchens, but in this case they have built this enormous facility in poland on the border. that's where you are. i notice there are about 12 paella pans. how do you go about doing this? >> they have been figuring out where the distributions will be, how many distributions go where. they built it in like five days. i got there and they were just finishing putting the walk-in together, hooking up these huge paella pans. we can cook depending if it's soup or a ghoulash we're making.

we can make up to 200 portions at once. so it's really interesting. i never actually had to do recipes this large, but i know how to cook and we adapt. we bob and leave. that's what we do. >> did you say you can make up to 500 to 2,000 portions at once? >> yeah. they're very, very large, these paella pans. they're very deep. yes, today we made, you know, a beef stew and we used horse horseradish beets, a beet stew, and it served like 500 people, yeah. >> i don't know if you've witnessed a crossing where hundreds of thousands of people, now nearly 2 million people have left this country. more than 2 million people are internally displaced. have you ever seen any like that up close?

>> no. i've not lived through anything like this before. standing at the border watching -- i went to check out the actual where our food is being served from because i wanted to see it and just seeing the line of women and children with one suitcase, crying babies, crying children in line waiting to get on a bus to go somewhere or some lucky ones hopefully being picked up by relatives or friends, but it is absolutely heartbreaking. it's amazing this is even happening in this time in my life or any of our lives, and it's troubling. but as i said, i'm committed to just sitting in that kitchen and just keep cooking. that's what makes me -- i know how to do it and it makes me feel good, so i'm going to continue doing what i'm doing. >> well, it is extraordinary the number of people who have been in their homes and witnessed what's going on and just, you know, everybody wants to do something, not everybody can for a million different reasons,

understandably, but it's great for those who can who are doing something, and you're one of them, chef marc murphy. thank you very much. >> thank you. well, still to come tonight, a symbol of the west sanctions on russia seized superyachts. a report on the latest oligarch yacht to be received. plus the high profile of these russian billionaires. i am here because they revolutionized immunotherapy. i am here because they saw how cancer adapts to different oxygen levels and starved it. i am here because they switched ofegfr gene mutation

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on friday, italy seized a super yacht of a russian refugee. he disputes the charges. it's worth about a half billion dollars. the oligarch is one of many russian billionaires that the west is targeting with sanctions. randi kaye has the story of

another of russia's high-profile oligarchs. >> reporter: that's roman abramovich celebrating a win by his soccer team. >> it's about time that the west look at where is this money coming from. >> reporter: but the welcome mat in the uk is now gone. he's one of many oligarchs sanctioned for their alleged ties to russian president vladimir putin. in this case, the british government has banned him from its shores, and frozen his assets in the uk. one day before he was sanctioned, he announced plans to sell chelsea and some of his homes in london. >> russian oligarchs, whenever

they get their money, want to park that money in the west. want to gain respectability, they buy real estate, whether in the united kingdom or an apartment in new york. which abramovich has. this was a way to grow his wealth. >> reporter: the british government said he's being sanctioned because his wealth and connections are closely associated with the kremlin. his representative did not respond to cnn's request for comment. forbes estimates he's worth 14.a -- $14.5 billion. but now he's at risk of losing much of it. >> you had all these state-owned

companies that suddenly got privatized. and roman abramovich was there, and able to buy up a number of these companies, and became incredibly wealthy. this is sort of the classic gangster capitalism of the 1990s. >> reporter: he bought an oil company for $200 million, and later sold it for nearly $12 billion. with some of his remaining assets seized by foreign governments, his future is suddenly uncertain. >> this is absolutely devastating for him, for his family. many of whom remain in the west. this is costing the oligarch class tens of billions of dollars, and i think abramovich personally stands to lose billions. before we go, a note about

the podcast i've been doing here, tug of war. i had clarissa ward, and also nick paton walsh. i wanted to get a behind the scenes look of what it's like to report here, we talked about the challenge of covering a war when one side is deliberately lying. to listen to the tug of war p pod podcast, you can scan the qr code in the bottom of your screen. stay with cnn, the news continues right now after a short break. recommendenumber one doctor d brand that is scientifically designeded to help manage your blood sugar. live every moment. glucerna. not only do centrum multigummies taste great. they help support your immune defenses, too.

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