are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! this is cnn breaking news. hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the united states, i'm hala gorani reporting live from lviv in ukraine where it is just past 10 a.m. russia and ukraine are set to begin their first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks today. negotiators will meet in

istanbul, turkey, where ukraine says its main goal is to secure a cease-fire but scenes of destruction across the country are not inspiring optimism. russia has been targeting fuel depots in the past few days including this one in the western city of lunstk. russian forces are trying to establish a corridor around kyiv to block supply routes. the mayor of irpin says ukrainian fighters have retaken the area and some russian forces are offering to surrender. cnn cannot independently verify that claim.

meanwhile, joe biden on the diplomatic front says he is not walking back his comments that, quote, vladimir putin cannot remain in power. the u.s. president said he was making a moral statement not a policy change. there's a firsthand look at some of the brutal attacks. we want to warn you, some of the photographs are graphic. cnn's fred pleitgen traveled to one village north. >> reporter: kyiv remains under attack. ukrainian officials says russian forces are trying to storm the capitol but failing unleashing artillery barrages on civilian areas in the process. we drove to the village north of kyiv only a few miles from the front line. even the streets here are pot

marked with shrapnel and massive impact craters. whole buildings laid to waste. look at the utter destruction caused by this massive explosion. there are some thick brick walls that even they were annihilate by the force of whatever landed here. the people told us they felt one nearly large explosion and it wounded several people and killed a small child. that child was 2-year-old stepan killed while in his bed when the house came under fire. these videos given to us by local authorities show the chaos in the aftermath as the wounded appear in shock. residents and rescuers try to save those who were inside. stepan pronounced dead on the scene. he was olak spac's second child. we found a leg when sifting through the house. inside he shows me the damage cassed by the explosion.

he was at home when his home was hit. he was at work when his wife, other children and mother-in-law had been brought to the hospital. stepan couldn't be saved and because of staff shortages at the morgue he had to prepare his son's body for burial. >> i had to watch him, dress him. his head from his right ear to his left ear, one large hematoma. arms and legs a total hoematoma not compatible with the life. >> many other houses have also been hit here. police tell me the russians shell the town every day. we bumped into 84-year-old halina in the town center. she was a child when the nazis invaded this area. said now things are worse. >> translator: where than fascists. the germans were here and enter our homes. they would shoot at the ceilings

but not touch us. they moved us into the woods but did not shoot us like the russian soldiers are shooting now, killing russian children. >> reporter: the creme lan claims its forces don't target civilian areas but the u.s., nato and others say they are frustrated by their progress and are firing longer range missiles because they can't make headway on the ground. >> reporter: they understand sooner or later our troops will push them out of our territory. now they are shooting more at civilian areas than at the positions of the ukrainian army. >> reporter: ukraine's army says it's pressing its old counter offensive trying to dislodge russian troops on the outskirts of kyiv. the kremlin forces unable to take the ukrainian capitol instead laying waste in the suburbs. this hour as we mentioned

ukrainian and russian negotiators set to meet face-to-face for the first time in two weeks to have talks in istanbul. arwa damon is in istanbul. turkish officials who are hosting these talks have been saying that they see some glimmer of hope. what do we expect out of these negotiations, arwa? >> reporter: well, hala, what we've been hearing so far is that it seems as if both sides are growing closer to what they describe as something as a middle ground. as we have been reporting, we do now know that the ukrainians are willing to discuss ukraine being a nonnuclear neutral country. given that there are seven security guarantees. that would in effect mean at least ukraine for the foreseeable member would not be

a nato member. that has been one of russia's sticking points. we heard from president erdogan addressing both delegations before the meeting before it starts saying that he believed that there was a pathway for peace moving forward and making one particularly interesting comment to both of them saying that he expected that these negotiations had reached a stage where concrete results should be achieved. now all of that being said, is there going to be some sort of m peace agreement that is going to be coming out of this? one would hope so. one would think that could be the case, but it is highly unlikely. but what we could potentially see, and this would be very significant for the population in ukraine, is some sort of a more solid negotiation when it comes to those humanitarian corridors. this is something we have been hearing from the ukrainian side,

that they have been going into this saying they want to really assess whether or not russia is serious about these talks, whether they are just paying lip service in terms of playing this part of the game or whether russia is actually serious about opening up more humanitarian corridors and actually allowing those humanitarian corridors to be safe and secure, but at this moment both sides have begun their meeting. they're expected to be lasting for the better part of the day, and at the end of them we're just going to have to wait and see what both sides say and what is actually accomplished. >> all right. we'll keep in close touch with you. arwa damon live in istanbul with the latest on the diplomatic front. meanwhile, the american president joe biden is trying to explain what he meant and why he said vladimir putin cannot remain in power. he said that at the end of a speech in warsaw, poland, a few days ago. he spoke about an off the cuff remark which stunned some world

leaders as well as some u.s. officials. cnn's m.j. lee reports from the white house. >> i'm not walking anything back. >> reporter: tonight president biden standing by his off the cuff remarks about vladimir putin that sent waves across the globe. >> the fact is i was expressing moral outrage at the way i feel putin is asking and his brutality of half the children in ukraine. i had just come from being with those families. >> reporter: biden fielding numerous questions from the reporters at the white house about this unscripted comment in warsaw, poland, that came on the heels of an emergency gathering of world leaders. >> for god's sake this man cannot remain in power. >> reporter: the president emphasizing was the one thing he was not referring to was u.s. support for regime change in russia.

>> i want to make it clear, i wasn't then nor now articulating regime change. >> reporter: biden down played that they would complicated diplomatic efforts. >> no, i don't think it is. >> reporter: and that they are escalatory. >> other governments haven't suggested i am escalating things. weaken nato? no, it hasn't. nato has never, ever, ever been as strong as it is today. >> the consequential words had already triggered intense criticism. some frustrated republican lawmakers urging the president to choose his words more carefully. >> i think all of us believe the world would be a better place without vladimir putin but, second, that's not the official u.s. policy, by saying that regime change is our strategy effectively, it plays into the

hands of the russian propagandists and so it was a mistake and the president recognizes that and the white house has walked it back. >> there's not a whole lot more you can do than to call for regime change. please, mr. president, stay on script. >> reporter: throughout russia's invasion of ukraine, biden not holding back words sometimes his language different than official white house positions. >> standing together against a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is wagging an immoral war against the people of ukraine. >> no, i think he is a war criminal. >> he's a butcher. >> french president emmanuel macron saying that last comment is not helpful for diplomacy. >> translator: i wouldn't use this type of wording as i continue to hold discussions with president putin. >> reporter: the president was

asked whether putin would see that as escalatory? the president said, i don't care. he's going to do whatever he wants. on the question whether he would be willing to meet with putin in the future, he said it entirely depends on what he might want to discuss. m.j. lee, cnn, the white house. still to come, evacuees fleeing the violence in mariupol describe the devastation they are leaving behind. details when we return.

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well, the european union's

foreign affairs commission says children have arrived in the e.u. and 800,000 people have applied for protection. meanwhile, european leaders say this refugee crisis must not in any way mirror the migrant crisis of 2015 that exposed a lot of in fighting and the shortcomings of europe's asylum system. they have apparently agreed on a bloc-wide program for registering refugees and coordinating transportation. this does not involve quotas. more than 400,000 people used to live in mariupol before russia's invasion but less than half of that number remains. the city's mayor is calling for a full evacuation, but he says the evacuation corridors are largely under the control of russian forces. cnn's ivan watson spoke with residents who made it out of mariupol but are very much unsure of their next move.

>> shattered by russian artillery. the windshield of a car that a ukrainian family used to make the two-day escape from the besieged city of mariupol. we meet natalia shortly after her family reaches relative safety in the parking lot of a super store on the edge of a ukrainian city of zaporizhzhia. the day before yesterday an artillery shell hit our house. half the house is gone. this is what was left. >> translator: if russia sees this, i want them to know they are not defending us, they are killing us. >> reporter: this parking lot an unofficial gateway to ukrainian controlled territory where more than 70,000 people fled. the evacuees look shell shocked.

they are draped in white rags and signs that say children and some like 4-year-old a lisa show up in yellow school buses. they were bombing us, she says. bombing us with planes and tanks. her aunt says she suffered from a concussion for days after a strike hit her home. >> translator: we walked among corps. there were soldiers without heads, without arms. they were lying there. nobody is gathering them. there was such fear that i felt like i was underwater. i wanted to wake up and now i am here and this feels like some kind of a dream. >> reporter: inside the super store volunteers and the city government are trying to help. newly arrived evacuees are welcomed where they're offered warm meals, access to medics and information about how to travel

deeper into safer parts of ukrainian territory. there's also a bulletin board here where some people are offering free repair of shattered car windows and there are also postings here looking for information about missing loved ones. for some who survived russia's modern-day siege, this is the first hint of safety they've had in weeks. outside julia and her son stanislav arrive. he is chatty and upbeat, but his mother appears unsteady. when russian war planes bombed, she said, the family hid under the dining room table surrounded by pillows. >> translator: when the plane flew past we were sheltering in the center of town. until now my ear still hurts from the shock wave.

>> reporter: the unlikely safe haven is precarious. russian troops are positioned nearly half an hour's drive away from here. ivan watson, zaporizhzhia, ukraine. all right. welcoming our guest here in lviv, a volunteer and director of the ukrainian education platform. you've been working since 2014 in the donbas area, correct, rebuilding homes? tell us about the organization. >> first of all, the ukrainian education platform has been working for 20 years. i joined literally a month ago when the war started. i have businesses in kyiv with my wife so -- but in 2014 when the war started the ukrainian education platform was basically rebuilding homes destroyed by the war, and since this new war

has started, we have begun, in addition to providing humanitarian assistance, we have begun rebuilding homes in the safer areas of western ukraine. >> is the goal ultimately to allow people who are displaced to remain in the country and not become refugees, not forced to cross the border? >> yes. absolutely. we don't want refugees, we want idps. we want people to stay in ukraine and help to rebuild ukraine, but in building homes -- you know, building a house is not building a home. you need to build a home. you need to provide community support. you need to integrate people. they need psychological support. they need social/emotional support, job training, things like that. >> what kind of homes are you building? are they temporary structures? >> so these are semi-permanent. we're just starting, hala, so

they're semi-permanent. they're existing buildings being reconverted inside into homes. the plumbing, everything has to be done for these people. >> how many people have you been able to accommodate? >> over the years we've accommodated basically thousands of people, okay? in terms of the homes themselves, hundreds b, but we know now we need to ramp up significantly. we're reaching out to donor organizations actively for support. >> you need -- you need people to convert these homes and there's a drain on resources for very essential -- i'm doing a story on farms that are losing their workers because they're volunteering to fight or some of the personnel are leaving the country. how do you find people? >> very good question. in those areas, we find volunteers.

as a matter of fact, in the organization we have 300 volunteers that work with us on a continuous basis, but in the local areas, in the small municipalities we find volunteers. we bring in the idps to help as well because they have the future homes in front of them. so that's how it works. >> but i -- one of the things you told me before the show today is that refugees never want to be refugees. i think there's such a misunderstanding from people who are welcoming refugees, who watch these flows -- these human flows of misery, that somehow people are, you know, going to take advantage of social services once they -- nont ever wants to be a refugee. no one wants to leave their home. >> that's exactly right, hala. >> no one wants to leave their home. >> we were in poland last week and we met with the swiss president, the swiss government is very active in poland providing help.

yeah, we talked to refugees. very few really want to stay. they want to come back. first of all, these are mothers and children. the men are in ukraine. they're the ones who are fighting because 18 to 60-year-olds aren't allowed to leave the country. >> that's the special feature of this crisis is the families are breaking up as well. >> yes. >> so you don't have family units traveling together? >> yes. >> how are you funded and if anyone would like to contribute, can they? >> absolutely. it's ukrainian education platform. i guess we can send that message out later, but we are funded through large donors. we have large donors coming from switzerland. we also have a lot of smaller donors coming from the u.s. so it's really a combination, but the real big step now is to go out to the major donors, such as usaid with whom we have

worked with in the past for larger funds as well as to the e.u. and some of the smaller countries in europe. >> one home converted is -- can you put a cost on that? >> well, it varies per square meter cost they vary because a lot of the renovation is superficial inside. >> sure. >> but -- so i really can't put a cost to it. >> okay. just sometimes it gives people an idea when they give what it could produce in terms of benefits for a refugee. anyway, john, thank you so much for joining us and thank you and good luck to you and your team on the ground. >> if you would like to safely and securely help people in ukraine who may be in need of shelter, there's a list of organizations that you can find on our website at cnn.com/impact. all right. coming up on cnn, why russians

will never get to see the ukrainian president's interview with a group of independent journalists inside their own country. that's next. ger mine. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®... ...most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. tremfya® is the first medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. and, it's six doses a year, after two starter doses. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®. ask your doctor about tremfya® today. shipstation saves us so much time it makes it really easy and seamless pick an order print everything you need slap the label on ito the box and it's ready tgo

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i'm hala gorani in lviv. as russia's war in ukraine grinds into the second month, russian forces seem to be using a new strategy of attack. with troops largely stalled on the ground, russia is firing missiles at fuel depots across ukraine. that includes this one in the western city of luntsk. we're looking at the destruction left behind in kharkiv. it is shocking. on monday the united nations says it has been able to bring food, medicine and some other humanitarian supplies into the city, but in the capitol kyiv ukraine's deputy defense minister says russian forces now are attempting to block supply routes from around the city. fierce fighting has continued in kyiv's suburbs for days as ukrainian forces attempt to retain areas near the capitol. on monday ukrainian officials said troops had successfully reclaimed the suburb of irpin

but to the south the besieged city of mariupol appears closer than ever to falling under russian control. ukraine says its forces are maintaining a defense inside the city but the mayor says evacuation corridors outside of mariupol are largely controlled by russian troops. with the latest round of ukraine/russian talks kicking off in istanbul, russia's demand for the annexation of crimea and the donbas area are key sticking points. atika shubert joins us live from spain on that. atika? >> reporter: that's right, hala. and we're just seeing pictures, actually, of negotiators from both russia and ukraine sitting down to the table opened with remarks by the turkish president erdogan. it does seem that things are underway. there is some hope that we could get some draft today, some substance out of these talks.

as you point out, the biggest sticking point remains that ukrainian territorial integrity in the peninsula of crime me yeah and the disputed donbas region. russia suggests ukraine must recognize crimea as part of russia after of it annexed in 2014 and to recognize the independence of donetsk and luhansk. now ukraine, of course, says it will not accept that and that it sees all of these territories as part -- an integral part of ukraine. i don't think we're going to see any movement on that issue. where we might see some movement, however, is on this issue of neutrality. russia has said that ukraine must not become a member of nato and ukraine's president, volodymyr zelenskyy, told russian journalists in an interview that he was willing to accept that and that ukraine could remain neutral. however, it's not as easy as

promising not to become a member of nato because it's actually embedded in ukraine's constitution to try to strive to join nato. so instead what we might see the ukrainian negotiating team do is offer neutrality and promises not to join nato as long as there is security guarantees from other countries, to aid in the event of more russian aggression f. that happens, however, it would still require a referendum and constitutional change. any change on the ground would take months possibly up to a year, hala. >> all right. thank you very much. while ukraine's president zelenskyy may be winning the information war, putin has built an iron curtain around information. the latest item added to the information blacklist, president zelenskyy's interview with

independent russian journalists. matthew chance has that. >> reporter: this was a ground breaking interview with what the kremlin sees as an enemy head of state, the first for russian journalists covering this war. but for many russians, the words of president zelenskyy, including his offers of compromise for peace, will never be heard. russian authorities banning the interview before it was even broadcast and now vowing to investigate the journalists who carried it out. journalists like tikan zadko, the editor of tv right. forced off the air at the beginning of this month. now to war, his editorial staff said, as they walked off their moscow set. >> there is a digital iron curtain on the ukrainian topic in russia and we see that there

is military censorship in russia and all the information which is not going from the russian minister of defense or the kremlin is forbidden. so it is really important to tell the people the truth, or at least to tell them what the other side of the conflict of the war thinks. >> reporter: why do you think it is so important for the kremlin to keep such a tight grip on that, on that flow of information and on the message they want russian people to hear? >> almost the whole story of the russian war in ukraine is a big lie just from the beginning. even the word war is not being used by the russian government. we understand this is not truth. we understand there is a war. we understand a lot of civilians die there every day and we understand that a lot of russian soldiers as well die there every day. and volodymyr zelenskyy, he is the person who has a lot of

information there and of course he gave us this information during this interview and of course the russian government doesn't want this information to be spread in russia. >> reporter: this is what the kremlin does want russians to see, blanket coverage of the special military operation. russian forces cast as liberators and heroes. there have been displays of dissent, but this one of a journalist holding up an anti-war placard during a newscast. the program was quickly cut away, but for millions of russians, the idea their country is a force for good fighting neonazis in ukraine welcomed by the people there is much more appealing than the hard truth. >> reporter: why is it such a successful strategy? why are people so ready to believe that propaganda? >> there is a huge part of the russian society of people who

are in denial, people just do not want to admit that their country, our country, my country is bombing civilian objects and schools and hospitals, et cetera, et cetera. it's hard to admit it, that maybe there is something very wrong with your homeland and that somehow we as a citizen of russia is somehow responsible for it. >> reporter: hard to admit, perhaps, but with tough new information, increasingly illegal, too. russia's criminalizing the truth as this war's latest casualty. matthew chance, cnn. that will do it for me in lviv, ukraine. for more, i'm turning it over to rosemary church at the cnn center. >> thank you, hala, for your reporting in ukraine. do stay safe there. straight ahead, a landmark

summit in the middle east. u.s., israeli and arab foreign ministers gathering for the first time to discuss a range of security issues. we'll take a look. the stinging. my skin was no longer mimine. emerge tremfyant®. wiwith tremfya®... ...most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. tremfya® is the first medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. and, it's six doses a year, after two starter doses. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®. ask your doctor about tremfya® today.

well, talks between ukraine and russia are underway in istanbul at this hour amid a continued effort to brianne end

to the ongoing war. on the ground in ukraine the fighting continues. russian shelling has intensified around kyiv's suburbs. ukraine's deputy defense minister says russian forces are trying to build a block around the suburb. landmark somewhere in the middle east between the u.s., israel and four foreign nations has wrapped up. they're haling the remarks as a newark texture for the region. we have the details from jerusalem. >> it was billed as historic the first time four arab ministers have gotten together and the u.s. secretary of state and southern israel to boot as well as enabling them to get to know each other better and the u.s.

is showing the commitment to the regional allies and to assuage them to rejoin the iran nuclear agreement. one of the main discussions was how to deter the is ramik republic and prevent them from destabilizing the region. the diplomats vowed to make a permanent forum for ministers with looking at ways to help secure health, counter terrorism and they reiterated their support that jerusalem is the capitol of the future state. the jordanians weren't here. the region cannot enjoy stability without addressing the palestinian cause.

our presence today is the best response, cnn, jerusalem. a royal gathering later today may be queen elizabeth's first public event in months. the latest on a memorial service honoring prince philip live in london coming up.

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welcome back, everyone. the world will be watching to see if queen elizabeth attends a memorial service for prince philip. she has not attended an event since last year. today's service will pay tribute to prince philip. we will bring in cnn's anna stewart. good to see you. good morning, anna. what were you learning about whether the queen will attend this tribute to her late husband, prince philip, and what's planned for this royal gathering? >> reporter: well, in terms of what's planned, today's very much going to be in the service that the royal family would have liked to have given for prince philip last year but couldn't. i don't think any of us will

ever forget that stark image of her majesty in a pew or that funeral with 30 people in the chapel, no singing. today will be incredibly different. service of thanksgiving with hundreds of people expected to attend. members of the royal family, friends, very longest list. sir david attenborough is on that. families from overseas and hundreds of people that represent charities and organizations prince philip was a patron of. we'll see members of the cadets and also chief of edinboro. today is really a testament to his life of service that he committed to in marriage and really fulfilled with gusto. in terms of the queen, we do expect her to attend. today's not a happy event but we expect her to be here. she's often seen using a walking

stick and her health has been a huge concern in recent months. most recently the end of last month she was diagnosed with covid-19 that she has now recovered from. lots of health concerns there. hopefully, fingers crossed, she'll be here today. >> the queen at 95 years of age. she's had a lot to deal with of late. anna stewart joining us live from london. many thanks. will smith has issued an apology for slapping chris rock at sunday's academy awards. in a post on instagram smith wrote violence in all forms is poisonous and destructive. my behavior at last night's academy awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. jokes at my expense are a part of the job but a joke about jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and i reacted emotionally. he added, i would like to

publicly apologize to you, chris. i was out of line and i was wrong. i am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man i want to be. there is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness. this apology is not the end of the saga for smith. the motion picture academy has condemned his actions. it's also launching a formal review into his conduct saying further consequences are possible. and that does it for this hour. i'm rosemary church. our breaking news coverage continues after a short break. stay with us. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized w we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancncl or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find

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hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and right around the world. i'm isa soares in london and we are following breaking news coverage of the war in ukraine right here just ahead on cnn. >> reporter: kyiv remains under full-on attack by vladimir putin's army. >> it is of necessity to him to stop killing people. >> i was expressing the moral outrage i felt towards this man. i wasn't articulating a policy change. >> what has happened to the ukrainian soldiers defending mariupol. >> translator: they hold the line and they stand to the end, to the last drop of blood. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. thank you for your company. it's tuesday, march 29th. 9 a.m. here in london, 11 a.m.