ces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to our viewers around the world and in the united states this it hour. i'm hala gorani coming to you live from lviv in ukraine. it is just past 10:00 in the morning across this country, and we're following breaking developments in russia's war on ukraine. an adviser to ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is accusing russia of trying to, quote, wipe ukraine off the face of the earth as it steps up missile strikes across the country. he named several cities that were targeted sunday night including three to the west of the capital and kharkiv to the east as well. this as we're seeing new images of the widespread devastation

left behind by the brutal russian assault on cities like mariupol. russia's attacks from the air coming as ukrainian forces are launching counterattacks on the ground. and some of them are quite effective. they're gaining back some territory. on tuesday russia and ukraine are set for another round of talks in turkey, and ahead of that president zelenskyy says his country is now ready to accept p neutral non-nuclear status. he shared? hopes for the latest negotiations. >> translator: our priorities in the negotiations are known. ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt. effective security guarantees for our state are mandatory. our goal is obvious. peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible. >> well, cnn has correspondents

tracking developments in key locations. we'll have reports this hour from salma abdelas iz in slavsko, ukraine. nic robertson is in brussels. atika shubert is in valencia, spain. but we begin with itv's geraint vincent in lviv. >> in the borderlands the battle for ukraine rages on. in a part of the country where the russian invasion began, a ukrainian counterattack. in the diplomatic standoff on either side of this war, meanwhile, american officials have been trying to clarify their position or their president described vladimir putin as a butcher who cannot remain in power. >> i think the president, the white house made the point last night that quite simply president putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else. as you know and as you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change

in russia or anywhere else for that matter. >> reporter: the russian defense ministry released footage of what it describes as its airstrikes on ukrainian ammunition stores. but it is russia's bombing of cities and how to stop it that ukraine's president is most concerned with. mr. zelenskyy krit sooilzed his allies in the west who are still pondering whether to supply his armed forces with fighter jets. "if only," he said, "they had 1% of the courage shown by ukrainian soldiers." two of those soldiers were brought home to lviv to be laid to rest today. the ukrainian defense of this country has been valiant, and it continues to be extremely effective. but it comes at a painful cost. among the mourners, defiance. >> we have not 20 or 30 thousand

army. today, 40 million ukrainian people, huge ukrainian army. only victory. i believe in our victory. >> reporter: but in the immediate future of this war a stalemate seems most likely, and soldiers' sacrifice won't stop. geraint vincent, itv news, western ukraine. >> ukraine is promising to hold an immediate investigation after a video surfaced showing what appears to be ukrainian soldiers shooting russian prisoners in the legs. this was said to have taken place during an operation in the kharkiv region. the head of ukraine's armed forces did not refer directly to this incident but said staged videos could be distributed to discredit ukrainian soldiers. he also said ukraine's forces strictly adhere to international humanitarian law. this video has been circulating online. you may have seen it.

and hopefully we'll get to the bottom there of what happened. meantime, u.s. officials are trying to walk back u.s. president joe biden's fiery remarks about vladimir putin on saturday. mr. biden said the russian president cannot remain in power. and on sunday the u.s. ambassador to nato called mr. biden's comment a principled human reaction to the misery he saw while visiting refugees. but while the u.s. administration sought to clarify mr. biden's words, ukraine's ambassador to the u.s. approved of them. >> it's clear to us that russia is a terrorist state led by a war criminal. and we are working day and night and fighting fiercely to defend our land and to defend our democracy and everyone should be brought to justice. so i think it will be difficult to run a state from the hague. >> reporter: well, we're joined

now by cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson in brussels. and not every western ally of the united states was happy. you could tell. macron in particular, the french president. that the u.s. president joe biden said that. those words in that unscripted moment in poland. >> reporter: yeah. emmanuel macron has said that he wouldn't use words or actions that would escalate the situation at the moment. he has said that he is in ongoing conversations still with president putin and for that reason he wouldn't seek to talk about -- or hint at regime change in russia. you know, when we try to sort of look at this and see is there a gap here between the u.s. position and some of its european allies, there's a huge amount of work that's been done in the united states recently, and president biden really has come a long way uniting the european union with his position.

but there is a difference in position. emmanuel macron in the past few days has said he will stn diplomacy right up until the last moment, that he is continuing to talk and has had extensive conversations both with president zelenskyy and president putin in russia. the u.s. position going into this war initiated by russia has been that the united states would continue diplomacy right up until the last moment. that moment being when russia put troops into ukraine. so there is a difference in position here. and emmanuel macron really is at the forefront of european union leaders having a dialogue with president putin. it is clear that there is a difference in position, but i think this time it would be too much to overstate that what president biden has said has undone all the work he's put in up until now. but it certainly represents -- emmanuel macron still thinks he can talk to president putin to try to sort of bring about a piece initiative that can work.

and he's at the forefront of trying to do that, hala. >> so were would macron still have this type of optimism? i don't know if we should call it optimism. but at least hope he can talk to putin. i think he's spoken to vladimir putin, the russian president, 16 times or 17 times. correct me if i'm wrong. nothing seems to be getting to him in terms of stopping his assault on this country. >> yeah. and he was one of the last european leaders to actually go to visit president putin before the war began, having a more than five-hour meeting with him. a press conference and another hour-long session with him. and there was a sense from the lysee palace, macron's office in paris, that he wasn't getting through to president putin and he wasn't having a decisive impact on the russian leader's thinking. it's still hard to see what impact he's having at the moment. but it is a diplomatic track

that the european union is very keen to try to exploit or at least germany, france, and not the eastern members of the european union, who still see this opportunity to try to end the war through dialogue, because the alternatives are far, far worse. but it is hard to explain why president macron thinks he's going to have some opportunity here. people have said he's got an election coming up in a month or so, that he's positioning himself as well to be this sort of replacement of angela merkel as, if you will, the leading most powerful figure within the european union. certainly i've spoken to european union diplomats and they'll say it is macron who is out in the lead. in germany olav schultz has taken over from angela merkel, is still fresh in the job and it's macron that's leading the way. macron is positioning himself but can he actually position himself to make a difference and bring about a positive dialogue? that's not clear.

>> yeah. olaf schultz is a new chancellor. angela merkel was one of the important european figureheads. by the way, she had a for all intents and purposes maybe not friendly but she had a direct communication style with putin, not least because they could speak the same language. and let me ask you about volodymyr zelenskyy, the ukrainian president saying he would accept a non-nuclear status for his country. that was already the status of ukraine before. they gave up their nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees. how would it change anything to say this overtly and explicitly at this stage? >> reporter: yeah, and it's been talking to independent russian journalists to try to reach that part of the russian audience that russian state media propaganda doesn't get to. that could be as many as a quarter of the population in

russia, potentially even more. and what he is trying to do is undo the kremlin's propaganda. and part of the kremlin's propaganda over the past few months has been to say that ukraine wants to have nuclear weapons. so he seems to be targeting that. he's talking about having neutrality in ukraine but has added some important caveats, which is whatever changes would come in ukraine's status there would have to be an independent referendum in the country and it would also require russia's troops to go back to preinvasion positions. that could take some time to manage. >> nic robertson in brussels, thanks so much. we'll stay in close touch with you throughout the day. a new round of talks between russia and ukraine will be held this week in istanbul, as we've been discussing with nic. the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, says peace is the goal of the negotiations. but in an interview with independent russian journalists sunday he put certain conditions on his participation. >> translator: we won't sit down at the table at all if all we

talk about is some demilitarization or some de-nazification. for me these are absolutely incomprehensible things. >> atika shubert joins us live from valencia, spain. were russians able to watch this interview with these independent russian journalists inside their own country, atika? >> reporter: well, it would have been a lot more difficult for them to do that. the media -- basically, the media board that regulates the media in russia effectively warned russian publications not to publish any parts of the interview. so it does make it much more difficult. but as you know, these draconian laws have been passed in russia, which means that any journalist who's reporting independently could face up to 15 years in prison just for calling what is officially the special military operations in ukraine as a war. so to publish this interview would be very risky. which makes it all the more

extraordinary. what makes it very interesting is that zelenskyy tries to address the russian -- ordinary russian person, and he speaks v speaks fluent russian. he speaks in this very down to earth manner. and while he talked about things like negotiations and the state of the war he also answers questions that ordinary russians might be wondering such as why are russian athletes banned from international competition. and he talks about why international athletes can be used to burnish the image of the state, how the kremlin can use them and why they should not be allowed to participate. so he takes the time to answer a lot of these questions that ordinary russians may be wondering. and i think that is very interesting to see him try to reach beyond the state propaganda and appeal directly to the russian people. it will be a lot harder for people to access independent media but there are certainly ways. and it's interesting that i

allot of independent russian media are going out of their way to find a way to talk to him and get that message across, hala. >> all right. atika shubert, thanks very much for that. after a quick break, dealing with the sudden flow of refugees can be a huge logistical challenge. just ahead, i'll speak with a top relief official in moldova and find out how they're managing the hundreds of thousands crossing the border.

well, in washington a show of solidarity for ukraine and its people. supporters rallied at the lincoln memorial to call for more help from the west. they waved ukrainian flags and held signs with captions like kyiv is the capital of freedom. among the crowd several ukrainian-led charities and advocacy groups. they are providing aid to ukrainians who have not been able to flee the country or who have not wanted to flee the country. families in mykolaiv have seen their homes reduced to rubble by russian air raids. now they're forced to choose, stay and rebuild or try to escape. here's tatiana and what's left of her home, just trying to care for her house plants. the rocket that hit her neighborhood killed two of her neighbors. their home is nothing more than i ahole in the ground now, but tatiana is determined to stay and help ukrainian soldiers any way she can. but the constant danger of russian shelling is forcing many

others to leave. >> translator: we were already thinking about going to bed. i got up for water and suddenly heard a noise. i dropped the cup and ran to the bathroom. and at that moment everything started to fall apart. i think the shell hit the neighbors and all the doors were knocked out. our doors and the neighbors' doors flew out, hitting us in the corridor. we will fight till the end as best we can. some with weapons and some with help with moral support and by transferring funds to our army. our guys should have everything. helmets and body armor. >> translator: a strong bombardment of our village began yesterday at 9:00. hailstones and rockets. the rockets burned down.

we barely escaped. >> many ukrainians have fled with no more than handbags and backpacks. the heavy fighting in the city of mariupol, for instance, is def staith the lives of those who remain. and those who've taken shelter in basements during the russian bombardment are returning to find their homes completely gone. >> translator: i've lived here since my birth. my husband as well. we got married here and had babies. what now? what is left from us? i don't want to go anywhere from mariupol, but there is nowhere to live here. >> well, this comes as ukrainian officials say that the humanitarian aid coming into this country is beginning to slow. they say more support is desperately needed now. according to the u.n., more than 3.8 million people have fled

ukraine to nearby countries. another 6.5 million have been displaced internally. well, lars lonback is the chief of mission for the international mission for migration in moldova and he joins me now live from there. talk to us a little bit about at this stage of the conflict those refugees who are making it to moldova. they're not part of the first wave. they're maybe people who had no choice but to leave and no contacts within moldova. what's it been like just in the last few days for you? >> well, in the last couple of days we've seen refugees pouring in to this very small country. you have to imagine that this little country, 2.8 million inhabitants in moldova, europe's poorest country, is more or less surrounded by a giant, a country of 44 million that is in this enormous conflict and therefore

naturally a small country like moldova is under a very strong pressure. about half a million refugees have entered and are moving on to romania but still a sizable 100,000 are still here in moldova, mainly being sheltered and being welcomed by the moldovan population here in their homes. also the people who are coming across the border are leaving their menfolk behind who are fighting in the army. many women, many children and also very many elderly, their pets coming over. but they are being greeted by and large by the moldovan population, which is very encouraging for us to see. >> indeed. but longer term you must have some concerns. if this war drags on and you have these refugee flows continue to flow across borders

and people needing long-term assistance. their kids need to go to school. they need medical care. there's a language barrier in many cases. could you talk to us about that? >> well, absolutely. as we've been seeing this situation for a month, another month maybe, but further down the line naturally there is a need for schooling, for the children. there can be some schooling in russia but of course we'll have to have a lot of remote learning as we've been seeing over the covid situation. a lot of livelihoods, programs we need to put in place. we have as the international organization for migration and unhcr are leading this refugee response plan to look at transition and recovery. so that needs to come on stream in the coming months for having livelihoods for the people who

are staying here for the time being. >> what's interesting is that in other refugee crises that i have covered you see usually -- first of all, the flow of refugees to reach those numbers takes a little longer. you see a lot of tent cities, a lot of people out and about in cities. in this particular case we have not witnessed that. certainly in the west of ukraine it appears as though the internally displaced have been absorbed by the local population and we see that as well in countries like poland and where you are in moldova. can you talk to us about the difference between this particular crisis and others that you've had to manage? >> you're absolutely right that here we have a population in moldova that very many have relatives in ukraine or you have friends. so up until now yes, people have been coming in, into the homes, being invited to their homes. i've heard stories of very poor people in rural areas literally

sharing their last chicken or the last bag of potatoes and really showing enormous solidarity. even at the political level. i have a picture in my mind of the president of moldova up at the northern border greeting an elderly woman and embracing her when she was coming here. so there's a very strong sense of solidarity, and indeed people are coming into the homes. but moving forward, there will be a need for more solutions. and i must say also one thing that we're preparing for still is a second wave. and that is going to be very, very hard for this country. fortunately, through the support of the european union, the united nations has been able to start an airlift out of moldova that gives hope for especially the very vulnerable people who would need to move over to other countries in europe. the vulnerable who cannot

through buses or other means take long journeys. so there are some signs of hope in us being able to operate and decongest moldova. >> thank you so much, lars lonnback to you and your team on the ground there in moldova, best of luck. and if you'd like to help people in ukraine we've been reporting that it appears as though aid shipments are kind of slowing according to what officials are telling us. you can always donate at cnn.com/impact. you'll find several ways you can help there. coming up, a lot more ahead on cnn. russian forces have targeted dozens of health care facilities in the past month of fighting. we'll discuss the impact this could have across the country and that it is already having across the country. stay with us. time. time is just a construct. construct. construction. there is a crack. oh god are you kidding me?! oh god... hi, aren't you tirered of this? -yes!

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that's virtually everywhere we serve. the choice is clear: make your business future ready with the network from the most innovative company. comcast business. powering possibilities™. welcome back. i'm hala gorani reporting live from lviv, ukraine. more details now on our top story this hour. ukraine's president says his country is ready to accept a neutral non-nuclear status as part of a peace deal with russia. it comes as both sides are expected to meet this week for another round of negotiations in turkey. and on the ground, though, it's a different picture entirely. ukrainian officials say russia is launching more missile strikes across ukraine. an adviser to president volodymyr zelenskyy tweeted that several cities were targeted

sunday into monday including three to the west of the capital. you see them highlighted there on the map as well as kharkiv. meanwhile, ukrainian troops have gained some ground, launching counteroffensives to take back territory from russian forces. but the country's military intelligence chief is suggesting sunday that russia is now changing its focus to the south and east, attempting to carve ukraine in two after failing to take the capital. all right. well, earlier i spoke with asami turajami, a political reporter with the "kyiv independent." i asked her for lou significant those counterattacks from ukrainian forces have been on the ground. >> the situation hasn't changed dramatically but at the same time ukrainian forces have been launching counterattacks on several fronts. it includes outskirts of kyiv where the battle has been really fierce.

yes, but however, russia continues to shell different cities including makariv which is a strategic town which prevents russia from encircling kyiv from the west. this is good. but russia still continues to shell the cities and civilians still can't return because russia tnds to bombard them. >> what about mariupol? this poor city absolutely besieged, encircled for weeks. they're continuing their assault, the russians. >> yes, according to the city council there are about 170,000 people still left in mariupol and the situation is getting worse every single day because humanitarian convoys haven't been able to get in mariupol. so food and drinkable water is running out and medical equipment is running out and russia continues to shell the city almost all the buildings are destroyed or, you know, damaged because, you know, because of continuous russian shelling. and according to the estimate, between 20,000 to 40,000 people

in mariupol have been forcibly moved to other unknown locations. >> we've heard that. potentially russian-controlled territory. we're here in lviv in western ukraine, and in the last few weeks we've had a few strikes. one significant a couple of days ago on a fuel depot. not too far from here. i mean, visible from our location even. sieven't noticed that the mood has changed. yesterday i was out and about on a sunday. it feels almost like people are getting used to this tragic kind of war, the air raid sirens, the rest of it. >> yes. people -- most of the people have been ignoring the air raid sirens in lviv so far because even if the sirens go out they were outside and just, you know, chilling on a bench. but right now i think that more people have become aware, air raid sirens do actually work because missiles hit right after the air raid sirens went out. but overall because people knew someday lviv would be attacked. so people were expecting this. so it's not a big surprise but we didn't expect it on that day.

>> well, asami tarajimi there of the "kyiv independent." that will do it for me in lviv, ukraine. for more i'm turning it over to my colleague rosemary church at the cnn center in atlanta. rosemary. >> thank you so much, hala, for all your reporting. appreciate it. well, the international rescue committee warns ukrainians are at risk of a, quote, catastrophic health crisis because of russian attacks on health care infrastructure. the organization has counted at least 64 attacks on health care facilities, transports and personnel during the first four weeks of the war. and i spoke earlier about the crisis with judyth twigg. she is a political science professor at virginia commonwealth university. >> of course the entire russia invasion of ukraine is a tragedy, but it's particularly a tragedy that the attacks on health care facilities which increasingly look as though they are deliberate russian attacks on health care, on health

workers and health personnel, those attacks are happening in the places where health care is needed the most, where people are suffering from combat wounds, trauma, injury, in addition to the ongoing medical care that people were already seeking in those facilities. russia is a signatory to the geneva convention in 1954 that outlawed this type of attack on health facilities. so what we're seeing here is a basic violation of human rights. >> it is just so horrifying to watch, isn't it? of course in the midst of all of this we've also seen remarkable acts of courage on the part of the ukrainian people standing up to the might of russia's military and in many cases actually defeating them. and of course brave doctors and nurses staying behind to look after those most in need. that courage truly extraordinary. but what worries you most about this war and of course the pounding of civilian targets like hospitals? >> well, of course, we're all accustomed to seeing the incredible acts of courage and

heroism and bravery from the ukrainian people. i'll note that the majority of ukrainian health care workers are women, and we're hearing many stories of women, doctors and other medical personnel, who are getting their own parents and grandparents and children to safety in the western part of ukraine or in the bordering countries to the west and then coming back into ukraine to make sure they can continue to offer services to their patients or to other people who are in need of medical services. obviously, the first thing that we worry about in the immediate sense are the acute health needs of the people who have been directly by the violence. so people in cities that are directly under assault, under siege, places like kharkiv in the east, like mariupol in the south, in a lot of senses we don't even know what's going on in some of those areas because they've been cut off, people don't have access to food, to water, to sanitation, to basic medications. so we worry about the treatment

of chronic health conditions for those people who don't have access to their medicines, to regular medical care. the longer those people have to go without, for example, clean drinking water or clean food, we worry about the emergence of communicable diseases like cholera, for example. there was an outbreak of cholera in mariupol back in 2011. so we worry about outbreaks of infectious diseases in those places. >> judyth twigg talking to me earlier. just ahead, with covid cases surging shanghai is going into lockdown as health authorities try to test tens of millions of people. we will have a live report on that. we're back in just a moment. so when you need to show your cold who's boss, grab mucinex allll-in-one... and get baback to your rhyth. ♪ don't play around with cold andd flu symptoms.

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welcome back, everyone. well, here in the united states covid-19 vaccinations have hit their slowest pace ever. an average of about 188,000 vaccine doses have been administered each day over the past week. now, that is the slowest since just a week after the pfizer biontech vaccine was authorized in 2020. overall, about 65% of the u.s. population has completed their initial series of vaccinations. about 29% is fully vaccinated and boosted. officials have emphasized the importance of vaccination as

they keep a close eye on surging cases in europe and asia. >> we're looking in new york and we're already seeing an uptick. and we know what happens in the northeast tends to herald what happens in the rest of the country. but it's still very hard to predict. and instead of focusing on is this the variant that's going to cause the next surge what we really should be focused on is what should we be doing to stay in a state of preparation for when the next variant causes a surge. and that, again, comes back to that federal funding, having adequate federal funding and then saying what are the things we should be doing? we should be not ramping down testing but ramping testing up. making sure we have the ability to do surveillance to detect when we see a surge in cases. >> meantime, china's financial hub is going into lockdown for mass covid-19 testing. the shanghai government says half the city begins four days of lockdown on monday and the other half will follow on friday. all residents, that's more than 25 million in all, must be

tested to maintain a green health code status so they can go to grocery stores and public areas. and cnn's beijing bureau chief steven jiang joins me now to talk more on this. great to see you, steven. it is a massive undertaking, isn't it? more than 25 million residents to be tested in just a matter of days. is this the most efficient way for authorities to do this? >> rosemary, you know, this follows days of confusion and chaos both on the streets and online about what they would do to shanghai, which is experiencing its biggest surge of covid cases since the pandemic began. remember, for days city officials denied they would impose a citywide lockdown with police even launching investigations against the so-called rumor mongers about the city's imminent closure. when you look at the number, 16,000 cases since march, that's obviously a huge deal for china. and with even suspicion about this number being underreported. but when you dive a bit deeper,

the overwhelming majority of these cases have been asymptomatic. that means most of them would not require hospital care. that's why up till this point shanghai had really prided itself on its less disruptive approach to covid containment. the city had never undertaken citywide mass testings. and its quarantine measures were considered less restrictive. but it seems like, you know, despite hope that the shanghai model would be replicated for the rest of the country, the opposite is now happening with shanghai adopting harsh measures. we had previously only seen in other cities. and this new two-step approach, if you will, is basically a citywide lockdown in all but name and now we're seeing millions of residents being confined to their homes. large portions of the city's public transportation including the world's biggest metro system being shut down not to mention a lot of concerns and even agony about the city's increasingly strained health care system with a lot of people seeking medical attention for non-covid-related

causes being turned away. in at least one case a local nurse died because of this. and then of course the city has to -- the country's oldest population among all major cities. that's another concern because that's a segment of the population undervaccinated. all of this of course is happening in shanghai but it's being decided here in beijing but seems at least for now the leadership here is not ready to change course when it comes to its zero covid policy because it's been working for them politically and not to mention the top priority is that communist party congress we've been talking for so much this year. they simply don't want to tolerate the scenario of co..id cases across china as xi jinping is expected to take his third term in office. rosemary? >> steven jiang brings us up to date with that live report from beijing. many thanks. well, a former nba star is trying to boost africa's economy through his coffee company and investment in a basketball league called nba africa.

cnn's zain asher spoke with dikembe mutombo about his ambitious business endeavors at the dubai expo 2020. >> as you know, coffee is the number two commodity trade in the world with more than $385 billion a year. but there's not many african representative on the table. and that was one of the reason they pushed me really to get on this business. knowing that the majority of the coffee come from the beautiful continent of africa. >> and talk to us a bit more about how this coffee company, your coffee company, is putting women to work, specifically on the continent. >> it was really important when i realized almost like 40% to 50% of worker, especially farm worker in the field, mostly women, and their voices are not

represent and nobody talk about them. i felt it was really important as a company to address that issue, to try to figure out how can we help those women because most of those women are a mother, sister, cousin, auntie, and grandma. and more that we talk about the more we get a chance to address the issue so many women are facing in the workforces. >> i want to talk to you about nba africa. i'm sure this is obviously dear to your heart. >> yes. >> tell us about your investment in nba africa and what you hope the league will achieve on the continent. >> nba africa investment was a great thing. some of us african players we played in the nba. including all the investor from the continent and the nba in particular. to invest more than a billion dollars in the continent to start a new league to give those young men and young girls hope because we don't think that

every young man growing up in africa that's picking up the game would have a chance to go and excel in america or in europe. maybe 1%. maybe 001 will make it to the u.s. maybe to college. but not all of them would make it to the nba. so that's why the nba commissioner adam silver he have decided the moment have come to start a new league in the continent. and that will give those young men a prospect for them to develop, to stay home, to stay in their own country and their own continent, to be the star on their own people and to take care of their family and their loved one. and i'm so happy with the direction that we're going. >> very inspirational there. well, some families have found a unique place to lift their spirits as they wait for the war in ukraine to end. coming up, we will see how they have turned a mountain sanctuary into their temporary home.

welcome back, everyone. well, thousands of people who fled the terror of russia's war on ukraine are finding peace and security in an unlikely place.

cnn's selma abdelaziz talks with some of them in the mountain sanctuary they now call home. >> reporter: nestled deep in the carpathian mountains, far from the bombs and bullets, lies the idyllic ski resort of slavska. with plenty of room for those fleeing violence to find solace in the slopes. many hotels have opened their doors to displaced families. some at no cost or discounted rates. the guests stacy and ramir found refuge here after russian forces invaded their hometown of kharkiv. >> we usually heard like shells blowing up, lots of bombardment. >> how did you feel when you arrived? >> when you look at these mountains and into the news, it seems like not real. >> and you're here, you're safe. you feel kind of guilty because in the beginning i left all my

family there. >> reporter: after a terrifying week mom and daughter finally squeezed onto a train out of embattled kyiv. but where to go? then they remembered a special family trip. >> yes. we love it this place because our summertime we provide here. >> reporter: so you had good memories here. >> good memory. we had good memory in this place. >> you feel safe here. but i hope that this war will end soon and we'll go home because living at home is much better because it's my home. >> reporter: this tiny mountain community of slavsko has taken in 3,400 displaced people. nearly doubling their population. but they say it's not a burden, they want to share the sanctuary. some have chosen less traditional accommodations. osa found peace for her two children in this glamping pod. >> translator: my daughter wakes up every morning, opens the

curtains, wipes the dew from the windows and looks out at the view. she tells me yes, she loves it here. it's calming. i feel lighter. and i start to believe everything is going to be okay. >> reporter: for these families this feels like the safest place in a country where it seems everywhere is a front line. salma abdelaziz, cnn, slavsko, ukraine. >> now to some good news about a ukrainian mother who was forced to flee during the final months of her pregnancy. it was the night before the russian invasion and her family and friends threw her a surprise baby shower in kyiv. hours later she was forced to pack her bags and flee to poland, eventually getting to new york city. she tells cnn she has since given birth to a beautiful baby girl named kira. she hopes to return to poland soon and eventually go back to ukraine.

beautiful. thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. isa soares will be back with another hour of "cnn newsroom" in just a moment.

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. 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". >> there is nowhere in this large country that is truly safe. >> translator: hailstones and rockets. the houses burned down. we barely escaped. >> reporter: ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt. our goal is