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tv   CNN Tonight  CNN  March 30, 2022 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com quick reminder, we've got two new shows on your streaming service, "full circle," which lets me interview a wide variety of people and cover stories you might not see in the day's headlines. and a new show called "parental guidance" which is about parenting, the highs and lows. you can watch on cnn web plus or the cnn app on apple tv and amazon fire streaming guys. that's it for us. you'll also find the news cast with wolf blitzer which is live weeknights at 7:30 p.m. eastern. and wolf is keeping busy. time to hand it off to him. wolf? >> we're all pretty busy, anderson. i am wolf blitzer. this is cnn. the pentagon warned yesterday not to be fooled, and there's further proof tonight that russia is not to be taken at its word. it's not drastically reducing
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military operations around ukraine's capital and in the city of chernihiv to the north, but increasing its assault. the mayor of chernihiv says his city has been under colossal attack over the last 24 hours, and kyiv, the capital, has remained under constant bombardment as well. here's the ukrainian president zelenskyy's take on that tonight. >> translator: this is not a retreat. this is the result of the work of our defenders, who pushed them back. >> the pentagon says only a small percentage of russian forces are repositioning from the capital, but the majority remain. and the air strikes haven't stopped at all. meanwhile, not only are russians being misled on this invasion by their own government, the u.s. now says vladimir putin himself isn't being told the truth about it by some of his own advisers. the new u.s. intelligence reporting confirmed by the
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pentagon today. >> we would conquer with the conclusion that -- that mr. putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defense at every turn over the last month. >> a u.s. official tells cnn that putin's been misled about his military's performance, but he's become aware, which apparently led to a rift between putin and his top defense officials. much more on that coming up in a few moments with the former u.s. defense secretary, the former cia director. meanwhile, there are new satellite images that show almost all of the port city of mariupol destroyed, entire city blocks obliterated. nothing appears off limits to russian forces, nothing. not ma ternty hospitals or other buildings filled with children. they even bombed -- get this. they even bombed a red cross
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warehouse with its logo clearly displayed. and they even hit a holocaust memorial in the shape of a menorah, so the onslaught very much continues tonight. fred pleitgen joins us live from kyiv. fred, tell our viewers what you're seeing and hearing tonight. >> reporter: what we're seeing and hearing doesn't seem like a deescalation. in fact it seems like an escalation. there was a lot of shelling coming from the russian side or seeming to come from the russian side. there were a lot of multiple rocket launching systems that we heard. also artillery as well. and, you know, wolf, a lot of that really centers around the north western district or the northwestern outskirts of kyiv. and there's that one area in particular called irpin. we've been talking about it a lot. it was one of those places where the russians tried to break through into the city of kyiv, but they were confronted by ukrainian forces and pushed back.
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so, what they're doing now is they are really shelling that place. we -- today, we got as close as possible to irpin. we do have to warn our viewers, some of what they're about to see is very disturbing. >> reporter: through heavily fortified check points, we reached the edge of kyiv at the suburb, irpin. suddenly on top of the artillery barrages, we hear gunfire. [ sound of gunfire ] >> that's gunfire. >> reporter: much closer, and we have to take cover. this is what it sounds like after russia said it has scaled down its military operations around kyiv. even in the calmer moments, the big guns are never silent. this is the final check point before you would reach the district of irpin, but it's impossible for us to go there right now simply because it's much too dangerous. it's also impossible for the people who live there to come
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back to their homes because there's still so much shelling going on and so much unexploded ordnance still on the ground. irpin was heavily contested between russia and ukrainian forces, as vp's troops attempted to push through to kyiv. now the ukrainians say they've pushed the russians back, taken control, and released this graphic video of the aftermath, buildings and cars destroyed, dead bodies still lies in the streets. ukraine's security emergency service has now also released this video, showing rescuers taking out at least some of the dead, while under fire from russian artillery. some of the remaining residents were also brought to safety, including many children, irpin's mayor tells me. >> translator: now irpin is 100% ukrainian. we are taking out the wounded and dead bodies. today and yesterday, we evacuated approximately 500 people. today i myself evacuated about 50 children and 100 adults.
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>> reporter: the evacuees are brought to this space outside irpin. it's not only people. aide aid groups are now evacuating animals left behind when their owners had to flee, including these puppies. >> we have volunteers taking animals on the street. >> you're under fire going into irpin picking animals up. >> yes, yes, yes. >> reporter: the ukrainian army says it's in the process of pushing russian troops out of the area, hoping to silence putin's guns and restore calm to this once quaint suburb. >> reporter: and wolf, those noises of shelling, unfortunately something that's all too common in ukrainian capital throughout all the daylight hours and in the nighttime as well. one thing i did mention is i managed to speak to the defense minister of this country and they did see some signs some russian units might be pulling away to kyiv and might be going in the direction of belarus.
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but they certainly don't believe that's some sort of good will gesture by the russians. they believe the russians can't push through into kyiv. they were confronted by the ukrainians. they were beaten by the ukrainians, and now some of them have to pull back, possibly for regrouping, wolf. >> you've got to give the ukrainian military a lot, a lot of credit. fred pleitgen, stay safe. we will be in touch. let's get more perspective now. l mr. secretary, thanks for joining us. let me begin with the new u.s. intelligence that putin's advisers have misled him on the state of the war in ukraine. and it comes a day after a top general told congress the united states may have a gap in its own intelligence gathering. what do you make of this information emerging? first of all, do you accept? do you believe it? >> well, i think it's pretty obvious that intelligence frankly on both sides kind of
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failed in terms of really understanding what the russian army was about and their capabilities, the failure, their leaders leadership the failure in logistics, and the failure of these fighters to be able to achieve the goal that was set out in terms of the invasion. and i think we also, frankly, have received intelligence that the russians were a lot more capable in terms of being able to conduct this invasion. i think we expected, frankly, that they would capture kyiv and basically try to take control within a few days of ukraine. and that wasn't accurate either. so, we're dealing with a little bit of bad intelligence on both sides. >> here's what the secretary of state antony blinken said about this intelligence said today. listen to this. >> one of the achilles heels of
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autocracies is that you don't have people in those systems who speak truth to power or who have the ability to speak truth to power. and i think that is something we're seeing in russia. >> one u.s. official has told us, mr. secretary, was pretty specific. he said that he's now aware that he's been misled and there's now a rift -- we're talking about putin -- between him and his defense officials. what do you make of that? >> well, you know, i'm sure that those around putin have basically not presented the whole situation the way it is and have, in fact, misled him. i don't think there's any question about that. but i also would be a little bit careful about assuming, therefore, that putin doesn't understand what's happening there because he is kgb. he's an agent. he hasn't survived in office for over 20 years without developing
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his own sources of information. so, i would not assume that just because he's been misled that somehow mr. putin is not aware of how bad things are going in ukraine. >> so, what is he going to do in terms of it's getting really bad, he now sees how bad this is. does he pull back? does he look for a way out? or does he intensify this brutal slaughter that's been going on? >> i think it's dangerous, the moment we're in. we've entered phase two of this war. phase one was a failed invasion by the russian army to capture any major city and was stalled on every level. and also obviously the strength of the ukrainians in the way they've fought. but we've entered a phase two, which is going to involve what i think is kind of siege warfare plus stalemate. and the russians are going to
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continue, i think, to use artillery and missiles and continue to attack areas within the ukraine. and the ukrainians are going to push back. so, we're going to see some back and forth here. and it's a dangerous situation because i think putin is going to continue to try to achieve his goals. i don't trust the russians. i don't think anybody should trust the russians in terms of what they're saying in terms of pulling back. i think this -- i think this fight is now in a different phase, and it's going to continue for a long time. >> yeah, i keep hearing that from officials here in washington. it's going to intensify, and it's about to get even worse. secretary pe neta, as usual, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be with you, wolf. coming up, there's a great deal of concern tonight about the port city of odesa, and it's bracing for a potentially massive russian assault. and they're bracing for it soon because of its strategic
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location. we're going to take you there live. and we're also going to hear from the chair of the senate foreign relations committee. he attended a classified briefing on the invasion today. there you see him, senator menendez. we'll discuss with him when we come back. [engine humming] [clapping] ♪ we will, weill rock you ♪ ♪ ♪ the new gmc sierra with hands-free driving offers the most advanced and luxurious pick-up in its class. ♪ we will, we will rock you ♪ yeah, it rocks. mission control, we are go for launch. um, she's eating the rocket.
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>> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: that's service that fits your schedule. go to safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ 35 days into the russian invasion of ukraine, the kremlin claims to be shifting its focus to the south and east. that possible shift increasing fears for people in odesa. odesa is normally a very thriving port city, the country's busiest on the black sea. the city is known for its resorts and its beaches and the tourism. now antitank obstacles block the roads, sandbags and ukrainian troops stand in defense of the city's historic opera and theater. the size of odesa's port and proximity to a russian base in moldova make it particularly vulnerable. ed lavandera is in odesa
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tonight. ed, what is the mood in the city tonight? >> reporter: well, there's a sense of defiance in the city today. as we drove in earlier today, we saw people filling up parts, the people who were still here going about their business. the road in was filled with multiple military check points. we noticed all of the billboards on the road in were changed and showing off this pro-ukrainian anti-russian force message to the russian soldiers if they were to come into odesa from the north side. there is that sense and fortification you talk about that really showed you what has been prepared. and many people here anxiously watching what has been happening with russian forces in the north and all this talk about what exactly russia is up to, how are they going to redeploy these assets and forces into other parts of the country, and they take a close look at what's happened in mariupol.
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and even though russian forces have been stalled out for the most part just west of there, near kherson, there is concern, are they going to reattempt to take this part of ukraine that would essentially be along the northern coast of the black sea and really fortify russia's ability to control this part of the country? so, even though it's been a relatively quiet few days here in odesa, many people here, wolf, anxiously watching exactly how things are going to begin to unfold and what russia is going to be up to next. >> that's really a beautiful city, and people are bracing sadly for the worst. ed lavandera, be careful over there. we'll stay in touch. let's get more on how the white house is responding to all this. president biden announced $500 million in additional aid to ukraine. some republican senators say that is simply not enough and the u.s. should be providing more military assistance. the full senate was briefed on the late breaking developments
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on ukraine earlier today. let's get some specific details. we're joined now by the democratic senator, the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, senator bob menendez. mr. chairman, thanks so much for joining us. after the briefing you attended today, one of your colleagues, democratic senator chris murphy, said there will be new announcements, he said, from the biden administration soon on transfers of weapons. i wonder what you can share with us on the details of this upcoming announcement. >> well, wolf, i think the administration is doing everything possible to make sure that that which the ukrainians can use and can get speedily and can put into action quickly is going to either be supplied by the united states or transferred from a neighboring country to continue to help the ukrainians both deal with air defense
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questions as well as with all the other elements of stinger, javelin, and other lethal equipment. and i think that that's -- that will build upon the president's humanitarian announcement today. >> they really do need the antiaircraft, antitank, all those kinds of missiles. and they need tons of them. do you think they're going to get what they want? >> i think there is an overwhelming desire by the administration. i think they're working around the clock from the secretary of defense to the secretary of state to the national security adviser reaching out to different countries, all within the region, that can provide them particularly the assistance that they know and can operate quickly because if we send them a system that they are totally unfamiliar with, the training time alone is not something that they can afford. so, there is a unique process here about, yes, providing them the lethal assistance, yes, try
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to be as forward-leaning as possible, including in air defense, but doing it in a way that the ukrainians can actually use it, will know how to operate it, and can do it relatively quickly. >> we heard from senator lindsey graham. he doesn't think the u.s. is moving fast enough. he said he believes the u.s. should be sending, for example, mid 29th fighter jets that the ukrainians requested weeks ago. listen to what he said. >> we cannot let putin tell us how to let ukrainians defend themselves. so, i came out of there very us from serrated. we're five weeked into this this thing, and it seems like nothing changes. every briefing is the same. the ukrainians have taken the -- the same people who have told us this is going to last four days are giving us excuse after excuse of why can't we do more. >> what's your reaction to that, senator?
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>> you know, wolf, i think if ten angels came swearing from above that president biden has sent nearly $2 billion of assistance to ukraine in defensive lethal weapons and much more to come, if those angels would say, he's done it all, as much as you possibly can, and he's continuing to do it, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would say those angels lied. the reality is we will continuously hear no matter what happens that the president is not doing enough for ukraine. i've now taken it almost as a political talking point, far less grounded in reality than in substance. >> u.s. officials say they believe putin is being misinformed as to how poorly the russian military, at least so far, is performing in ukraine. how do you square that with what we've seen from putin thus far? what's your reaction to that? zb >> well, look, i have no doubt
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when you have a dictatorship, for all intents and purposes, an authoritarian figure that is ruthless, that, you know, saying to that person things are not going well is probably not going to be how you keep your job. being truthful is -- probably may not keep your liberty intact. and if you're really honest, maybe your life is gone. i mean, that's the reality of dealing with putin. so, i'm not surprised that those around him are unwilling to fully tell him what's happening on the battlefield. having said that, you know, if he's just watching your show, wolf, then he'll have a pretty good sense that things are not working out all that well. but -- but the fact that those around him who really -- you know, you want to have leaders who have people around them who are smart, capable, and will tell them what's really happening. but when you're an authoritarian, that's not necessarily the way the process
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works. >> yeah, it's a very dangerous situation right now. everybody seems to think the next few weeks are going to be critical. senator menendez, thank you so much for join us. >> thank you, wolf. president biden's called vladimir putin a war criminal. evidence is mounting of what appears to be crimes against humanity. but will there ever be real consequences? we're going to get insight from former u.s. officials who have led the nation's efforts in the region. they're standing by. we'll be right back. my a1c stayed here, it needed to be here. ruby's a1c is down with rybelsus®. my a1c wasn't at goal, now i'm down with rybelsus®. mom's a1c is down with rybelsus®. ♪ ♪) in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus® significantly lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill.
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ukrainian members of parliament calling russian peace talks a, quote, smoke screen, a point driven home by president zelenskyy. listen. >> translator: we have a negotiations process, but it's only words without anything concrete. for us, the support from the u.s. is essential. now it is particularly important to lend a shoulder to ukraine and to show the whole might of the democratic world. >> my next guest had led u.s. efforts in the region. i'm joined now by bill taylor. he was the u.s. ambassador to ukraine, and ellena farkus. thanks very much for joining us. what value is there in these
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talks, given putin isn't being told the whole story and is sort of making up stuff as he goes along? >> well, wolf, the value, i think, for vladimir putin is he can stall for time while his military forces try to regroup. we don't really know how much ability they have to come back, but we know that they've been, you know, on land in terms of attacking kyiv again. but we know they have artillery and that they are in a position, as you said in your earlier segment, to frankly decimate odesa. it's important to show the international community and their people, so, for president zelenskyy, that he's willing to cooperate. he's willing to compromise. he's put serious options on the table. he's moved the ball. but he's essentially negotiating with himself right now. so, he does need more leverage from us, frankly. >> ambassador taylor, you've sat at the table with other nations over your years as a diplomat. how do you put stock in what the other side is saying when you
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know there's only one man whose opinion really matters? and we're talking about putin. >> well, wolf, you're of course right. and what you know is the people in this case, the people the ukrainians are across the table from, those russians, they're not connected to president putin. so, they're kind of on their own. they probably listen to these interesting proposals. ellena's right, the ukrainians have come seriously to the table. they've put ideas on the table. they've had conversations with the russians in istanbul and earlier on the border with belarus. so, they are going through these motions. and the ukrainians have made some progress, probably have some conversations and maybe even made some adjustments to their proposals based on these conversations. the problem is the one you referred to. that is there's no real connection. there's no obvious connection between those russians and the person that you say, wolf, is making the decisions. it's -- it's not a good system for them, and it doesn't help the ukrainians.
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>> you're absolutely right. you know, ellena, the pentagon announced today -- i think this was significant -- that the so-called switchblade drones are, quote, in the process of being delivered to ukraine. how does that change the calculus for ukrainian forces, at least potentially? >> well, i think, look, anything that we provide ukrainians that provides them with the capability to reach out and attack the russian forces and take them out one by one is meaningful. so, this contributes in that -- in that fashion. i don't know how high they go and whether they provide a really good, robust air defense, so i suspect that they alone are not as significant as we would like. i would like to see some more s-300s in there, something to give them higher air cover from the cruise missiles, et cetera. look, everything we're providing every day is really useful, and i commend the administration for what they're doing.
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i just think we all need to do more and fast. >> a lot of people agree with you. how much pressure can economic sanctions really put on russia right now given we've already seen -- i thought was surprising -- the ruble has already rebounded to where it was a month or so ago? >> so, that's one measure, wolf, of the economy there. the other measure, though, is what's really going on with the -- with the people on the streets? are they able to buy things? do they see this fluctuation in the ruble? do they see the sanctions on the banks that are affecting them? so their banks -- the russian people's banks -- are not able to do international transactions, not able to borrow money, lend money. their ability to do mortgages and pensions is affected. so, the russian people are feeling this. they will notice other things as well. they are notice something where around 17,000 of their fathers, sons, brothers, and sisters are -- have been killed in ukraine. so, there's a range of things that the russian people are
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feeling, and that's going to have an effect. >> we shall see. you know, ellena, we're already seeing -- and this is serious and very disturbing -- a growing hunger crisis right now emerge in the middle east, parts of africa, result of this crisis, this war in ukraine. can the rest of the war afford to wait for the time that the sanctions may really -- the time the sanctions may take? >> yeah, i mean, wolf, obviously we already had a supply chain issue regarding many comm commodities. then oil and gas came into the picture with this war. and then everyone woke up to the fact that russia and ukraine provide a tremendous -- they're one of the top producers of wheat and other grains globally. and for countries like egypt that rely on the government actually to buy and subsidize a basic food, which is a bread, it could be devastating. so, it's another argument, though, for getting -- you know,
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really providing robust support fast to ukraine. we want to end this war fast and obviously on terms that are favorable to ukraine and the international order. >> it's now week six of this war. you know, ambassador taylor, the u.n. human rights chief is the latest to talk of war crimes against putin, for example, and the russians. but given that neither russia nor the u.s. right now recognize the authority of the international criminal court, what are the options for holding putin personally accountable for the brutality and the war crimes that we're seeing? >> wolf, first of all, just identifying his actions and the actions of that whole chain of command, by the way -- it's going to be putin on down who are vulnerable to these war criminal investigations. by just naming them and making them think about the consequences of their actions, that is one effect right there. then the question is the
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investigations. and the evidence is overwhelming. there are people out there filming right now and gathering that evidence. all of your work and your network's work and others are there. evidence is going to be very clear. and when the ukrainians prevail -- and they will, wolf. the ukrainians will prevail sooner or later. i hope it's sooner. then there will be the steps that will go into the war criminal investigations. >> just take a look of all the pictures of the residential areas, the apartment buildings, the schools, the hospitals with kids, with men, women, and children murdered. just take a look at that. it certainly feels like war crimes are being committed. ambassador taylor, evelyn furkas, both of you thank you so much for joining us. we'll have more on the crisis in just minutes. up next, the comedian chris rock making his first appearance since sunday night. that's when will smith slapped
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him at the oscars. what rock is now telling his fans tonight after days of silence. plus what the motion picture academy now says happened in the moments after that confrontation. we'll have details. stay with us. we'll be right back. i always wanted to learn more about him. i discovered some very interesesting documents on ancestrtry. this is s the uh registration card for the draft for world war two. and this is his signature which blew me away. being able to... make my grandfather real... not just a memory... is priceless. his legacy...lives on. this is vuity™, the first and only fda approved eye-drop that improves age-related blurry near vision. wait, what? it sounded like you justaid an eye drop that may help you see up close. i did. it's an innovative way to... so, wait. i don't always have to wear reading glasses? yeah! vuity™ helps you see up close. so, i can see up close with just my eyes?
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much more coming up on the war in ukraine. but first, it's the slap seen around the world. >> oh, wow. wow. >> keep my wife's name out your [ bleep ] mouth. >> wow, dude. >> yeah. >> just a little while ago, chris rock made his first public remarks about that incident at a standup comedy show in boston. our chloe is on the scene. chloe, what did you hear from chris rock tonight? >> reporter: it was the moment everyone was waiting for, wolf. so, chris rock, he walks out, takes the stage at the wilbur theater just behind me at 8:00 p.m., and the crowd erupted into just cheers, a standing ovation.
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it went on for a good minute, minute and a half. then everyone sat down. and then they stood up and gave a second standing ovation. chris rock looked visibly moved, emotional. he seemed to be wiping tears from his eyes. i'll tell you a little bit about what was said because there were no recording devices. he said let me get all misty. i don't have a much of stuff to say right now. i had written a whole show before this weekend. i am still processing what happened. i'll talk about it at some point. it'll be serious. it'll be funny. but right now i'm going to tell some jokes. it was a bunch of material he said appears to be trying out for an upcoming netflix special. but he didn't miss a beat. he didn't make any reference and nobody in the audience heckled him or screamed out or even mentioned will smith's name.
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>> very interesting. as you know, the academy also released a statement today saying it had initiated disciplinary proceedings against will smith. what more can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah, we know that tonight they held their -- late this afternoon in california, they held their annual board of governors meeting that they hold every year after the oscars. but priority number one was talking about will smith. they said in a statement, which cnn obtained, that they have given withsmith 15 days notice that they are going to be taking some sort of action. they didn't say what. but they did say something really interesting. there was a lot of speculation about why will smith was able to stay in the theater after what happened. the academy saying, while we would like to clarify that mr. smith was asked to leave the ceremony, and he refused. and they add that they wished they could have handled things differently. many people asking me, well, what could happen? well, potentially he could be suspended or not allowed back in
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the academy. and he might not be allowed to present at next year's oscars because usually the winner of the category presents the next year's award to the new winner. so, that would be a big blow. so, it'll be interesting to see what more chris rock has to say. he has another show at 10:00 p.m., and i'll be in there. and what will smith has to say. i do want to point out, though, that chris rock's brother, he responded to someone on twitter earlier today when someone asked him what they thought of will's apology and if they expected it. and he wrote no. then he asked if it was true, because he said, will and chris have squashed things after the show. he also said, that's not true either, wolf. >> very interesting. we did hear new reaction from two of the oscars' cohosts, both backing up their fellow comedian. amy schumer said rock handled it like a pro, called the whole
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thing disturbing. while wanda sykes said this on "ellen." >> i'm still a little traumatized by it. >> me too, me too. >> for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, i was like, how gross is this? this is just the wrong message, you know? you assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and that's it. >> seems really clear that the public support has really garnered around chris rock, right? >> reporter: exactly. and i think that chris rock is really feeling it right now, which is why he did get emotional at the top of his standup show, and it's very, very significant for the host of the oscars, wanda sykes, amy schumer -- we haven't yet heard from regina hall -- to speak out for chris. that's a big moment. hopefully we will hear more from chris tonight. >> we certainly will. i will stay in touch with you. thank you very much for that report. when we come back, we'll
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return to our major story of the night. we're talking about the war in ukraine. i'll be joined by a mother just out of mariupol along with her daughter, but other relatives remain behind. she's going to tell us about the escape, as her home city fights simply to survive amidst this russian attack. that's next. i was unable to eat. it was v very hard. kimberly came to clearchoice with a bunch of missing teeth, struggling with pain, with dental disease. clearchoice dental implants solved her dental issues. [ kimberly ] i feel so much better. i feel energized to go outside and play with my daughter. i can ate anything. like, i don't have to worry. clearchoice changed my life. [sound of helicopter blades] ugh... they found me. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the wod needs you back. i'm retired eg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around dog nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that.
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so small, no one will see it. but you'll notice the difference. and now, miracle-ear is offering a 30-day risk-free trial. you can experience better hearing with no obligation. call 1-800-miracle right now and experience a better life. you are about to meet a woman who was forced to escape her home in mariupol after she says a missile landed in the apartment next to hers. in these images she sent us, you can see the total destruction surrounding the place she once called her home, a home that once looked like this but is now part of the war zone, with endless communities full of flattened buildings. when she left mariupol on march 15th, the theater where they painted the word "children" in giant russian letters on the
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ground, it looked like this. but just one day later, the theater was struck. you can see the damage from this before and after. and today a satellite image today satellite image confirmed the red cross warehouse was also hit by at least two military strikes. christina fenema, who escaped with her 9-year-old daughter, is joining us currently from dnipro, which was hit by a rocket. how are you and your family doing? >> thank you very much. hello, everyone. we are well, and we feel here safe, safer than we were in mariupol. and people are kind here, and we get help from people, and we appreciate it very much. people understand our urgency, and we get humanitarian aid from
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any place here. >> how are the conditions? if you could just elaborate a little bit, where you are now, i know you had to, for example, melt snow for water, simply for water. what's it like? >> it was very cold, very cold. before we had snow, we had rain. so we had some water from the rain. and the next few days, we had snow, so it was 9 degrees and we got snow in our pocket and melted as a way to get some water for any needs. >> it's really amazing. i know you've been trying to reach your parents. i know you've been trying to reach your brother and your nephew. when's the last time you spoke to them? did they plan to stay in mariupol or leave as well? >> before they planned to leave,
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but before, my father, he's missing right now. my brother decided to stay in mariupol and find out about any information about him. of course, it hurts so much. because i know -- in what place they are. and it's so dangerous. last time i spoke to him, it was about two weeks ago. yeah, two weeks ago. next time, my father was lost. i wanted them to go but my father said, no, i will not go until i find our brother. since that time, i didn't hear anything from them. >> you must be so nervous. i hope they're okay. take us back, christina, to the day you decided to leave. what was happening? what was going through your mind?
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>> we wanted to leave every single day. but we understood that under the siege, i think the whole world knew about this. and it was not possible because we were waiting for this green corridor to move, escape from the city. but we didn't get any corridor. and then we heard people were talking about a south route. and the people started to leave. and we heard that if you are left on the 14th of march, and then we decided to do -- to try this on the 15th of march. and some of people in our yard, in our house, they also decided to leave. and it was a scary morning, it was air attacks all morning and artillery battles and all kind
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of fights that you can imagine. we experienced it while we were escaping our city. it was very scary. >> i'm sure it was. how is your 9-year-old daughter handling all of this? >> she acts like everything is fine, but every night she has nightmares. and she's crying. but during the day, she's smiling like it's okay. but of course she sees too much. >> so heartbreaking. i know you owned a small english language in mariupol. what's next for you and your family, christina? >> yeah, i feel so bad, knowing that my school is destroyed right now. well, for -- as i know english, i plan to do lessons in english as before. first, i need to find my family.
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right now, all my thoughts are in mariupol with my family. >> christina, good luck to you and your family, we hope they're okay. good luck to your sweet little daughter. we will stay in close touch with you if we can help in any way, please don't hesitate to ask. good luck, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you so much. thank you too. >> thank you. we'll be right back. ere. >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tecech vo: that's service that fits your schedule. go to safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪
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doing? >> i'm doing well, wolf. i found one of your conversations, all of it interesting, but this one particularly interesting that vladimir putin may not be getting accurate information from his people on the battlefield and his advisers. that is really interesting. >> it certainly is. and the question is, how is he going to react when he really knows what's going on? i assume he'll get more information. will he look for a way out to end this disaster, or double down and kill a whole lot more people in ukraine? for that, people here in washington are simply guessing. >> all over the world they're guessing. see you tomorrow night, thank you very much. i'm here in western ukraine in lviv. breaking news, ukrainian forces retaking the town of sloboda, further chipping away at russian forces encircling the city. cnn teams on the ground in the capital of kyiv hearing shelling well into the night as

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