power situation and the water situation and if she thought it would be restored by tonight, she said we're here to support. i should mention, wolf, we are on the northern part of the island, but the southern part of the island is where you're going to see some problems moving forward. >> leyla santiago, thank you very, very much. and to our viewers, thanks for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. > "outfront" next, the russian president calls up 300,000 reserviced in his fight against ukraine. and tonight russians are fleeing the country en masse fearing the worst. new york's attorney general filing a $250 million lawsuit, a quarter of a billion dollars, against the former president. she also tries to prevent him and his children from running businesses ever again in new york. two americans held by russian forces for more than 100

days have just been released. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, putin threatening nuclear war amid humiliating losses in ukraine, russian president vladimir putin today ordering a military draft and warning that he could use nuclear weapons against west. during a rare televised address to the russian nation, the russian president summoned 300,000 more troops to fight and threatened nuclear retaliation. >> translator: mobilization will begin today, september 21st. i am instructing the heads of the regions to provide the necessary assistance to the work of the military recruitment offices. this is not a bluff. the citizens of russia can be sure that the territorial integrity of our homeland, our independence and freedom will be ensured.

i emphasize this again with all the means at our disposal. and those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction. >> the prevailing winds can turn in their direction. context matters here. putin's mobilization is the first in russia since world war ii. just pause on that for a moment. and his talk of using nuclear weapons is only adding to a drum beat, which frankly has been getting louder and louder. just listen to this exchange on russian state television. >> translator: what made him think we would conduct a nuclear strike against ukraine? why would he bomb ukraine or germany when there is britain, the root of evil? >> we should've done it today, all the people are there for the funeral. >> cavalier talk about a nuclear strike on london during the queen's funeral. and tonight president biden and the western world are aggressively responding. >> this war is about

extinguishing ukraine's right to exist as a state, plain and simple. and ukraine's right to exist as a people. whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold. a nuclear war can not be won and must never be fought. >> yet, a russian tycoon says a nuclear war may be putin's only choice. he tells the "financial times" that either russia wins or the world falss an unprecedented nuclear disaster. he said the whole world should be praying for russia's victory because there are only two ways to end this war, either russia wins or a nuclear apocalypse. if we don't win, we will have to use nuclear weapons because we can't lose. does anyone think that russia will accept defeat and not use

its nuclear arsenal? putin's announcement of thousands fleeing. one-way flights sold out leaving russia. according to google flights, by 10:00 local time, the last remaining one-way tickets from moscow to istanbul were more than $11,000. the average ticket for any other route on that day is $300. they're all going one way, out. matthew chance is out front in london. you have spent extensive time in russia reporting from moscow as well as ukraine. you've been in touch with your contacts in russia today where more than 1,000 people were arrested protesting. what are you learning tonight? >> reporter: pretty disturbing developments. because we're seeing those antiwar, antidraft protests spread out across towns and cities in russia. there's more than a thousand people that have been detained.

but we're also learning from monitors inside russia that are watching these protests unfold, that some of those people who have been detained, remember, for their antidraft protests, are being directly drafted into the russian military. it is harsh even by the hard-line standards of the russian state. it's a partial mobilization that risks fully mobilizing. russian opposition through the ukraine war. in the wake of putin's escalation, there have already been scattered protests across the country. but it's possible public sentiment will further sour as more russians are told they'll have to fight. >> translator: you always feel worried that moments like these because you have a wife and kids. i wouldn't want to leave them, he adds, nr case something happens. this is not a defensive war, he

says, nothing is threatening our territory. calling for reservice now is unnecessary, he says. for the kremlin, there's a risk this indignation could erode putin's support even further. >> translator: as long as it stayed on the tv screens, not affecting their daily lives, many russians have gone along with putin's ukrainian disaster that he calls his special military operation. but in the wake of dramatic military setbacks, all this is suddenly become very real with the russian leader announcing an immediate callup of hundreds of thousands of men to bolster his depleted forces. >> translator: to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity, to provide safety for people in liberated territories, it is necessary to partially mobilize

citizens. >> reporter: he's just reserviced those with military experience at the moment. but there are concerns that could be just the start. [ chanting ] it all comes as occupied areas of ukraine announce snap referendums on joining the russian state. for critics, a tiny fig leaf to cover a blatant annexation of ukrainian land. many russians, a popular move to rescue people consistently betrayed in the state media as oppressed. >> translator: i think this is long overdue, says alexander. people don't want to live under bombardments. they want to live decently. that's why they're looking to be rescued by joining russia, he says. it's a principle putin says he's prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend.

the threat already dismissed by ukraine and its western backers. an increasingly desperate kremlin seems determined to double down. well, erin, what's not clear tonight is whether that gamble about pay off. it is proving increasingly unpopular at home, and it's unclear whether it's going to have a positive effect on the ukrainian battlefield any time soon either. back to you. >> thank you very much, matthew chance. i want to go now to john miller, our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst who's a former deputy assistant director of national intelligence and retired army brigadier general former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs as well. general kimmet, putin has come out. let's start with this mobilization. 300,000 people who have had some form of military training in the past but are not active. what does this mean for the war? >> well, i think matthew said it right. it won't have an impact in the next few months. they got to bring them back in.

they've got to put uniforms on these soldiers. they've got to train them. they've got to deploy them into units. they've got to do some level of maneuver as part of a unit. so i don't think before the end of winter will the 300,000 actually be on the battlefield and have an impact on the battlefield. >> and what then? >> we'll see. we'll see how much more putin wants to fight this fight, whether he really wants to take these 300,000 and possibly more. he has as many as 25 million. john can talk about what's inside putin's head. but candidly only putin knows what's going to happen next. zelenskyy has said he will continue to fight. and i suspect putin will say the same thing. >> i know you've been talking to former intel colleagues today about this. that russian tycoon that i mentioned posed the core question, though. does anyone really think russia will accept defeat and not use its nuclear arsenal? >> there are lots of people who think that and that believe that

this is saber-rattling. but having talked around the intelligence community today, i was looking for that person who was going to tell me the chance of the deployment of a tactical nuke is zero, and i didn't find that person. when you think of putin, you know, he has always banked on even in his propaganda, the image of masculinity, of power, of dominance, military prowess. and here he finds himself where he's being attacked by the left. he's being attacked by his own nationalist supporters on the right for not going far enough, not being out front enough. and the mention of, you know, tactical nukes, there's 2,000 of those spread across russia. and these aren't 30 kiloton bombs that are going to blow up a whole country. these are the 0.3 kiloton bombs that can be launched from the same equipment that they're launching their current artillery with. it has a very limited reach. and, yet, the psychological

effect of it would be tremendous. the radiation and fallout and the long-term effect, even on a small area would be long. it's something that is in the psychology of the discussion now. >> and it would change things forever. and of course it would change the situation, it would change the conflict. generally you could end up with a much broader confrontation, something much more terrifying. but you said -- the ukrainian commander in chief said today that they are not afraid, of course. they're going to keep fighting. it would take a few months for these forces to even enter the field of battle if they do enter it. but still this is double the number of troops putin initially put into ukraine. that was about 150,000. so now you've got 300,000 in this pipeline. they may be unprepared. they are raw bodies, though. they are a lot of people. how does ukraine counter this? they don't have that kind of manpower. >> and i think that goes back your point will putin accept

defeat? he may declare victory. i don't think he believes he can take over ukraine anymore, but i also think he does not believe, and a lot of people do believe that zelenskyy doesn't have a chance of taking back his country, that there has to be some sort of territorial diplomacy, some sort of territorial concessions on both sides. >> of course ukraine right now is saying absolutely not. and why would they? they now want to take back crimea. putin is being criticized from inside russia, talking about protesters. and they said the dolly parton of russia, one of the most prominent singers has come out against him. of course you have more than a thousand arrests. these people are going to go to prison for this. how does this impact putin and also those flights? thousands of men, they get mobilized, they flee. >> i mean, the entire calculus of this has been upended by

recent events but early events. the original analysis was in a war of attrition between tiny ukraine and, you know, the russians with more people, more weapons, more money, more everything that the ukrainian forces would be on the losing end of that. that's been reversed. i think putin's view was that this is going to be like rolling into czechoslovakia, you know, a long time ago. not like rolling into afghanistan and spending the whole time fighting until you left. i think this has taken him by surprise. and the fact that the nationalists think he's not going far enough and everybody else is wondering why are we even there shows fissures and splits that are very awkward and uncomfortable for a guy like putin where he's ruled with an iron hand about everything. >> thank you both very much. an important night in the developments of this horrific

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tonight, a $250 million lawsuit against donald trump, a quarter-billion dollars. new york attorney general letitia james filing a civil fraud lawsuit against trump and the trump organization. she's also looking to bar trump and three of his children from running the family business or any other business in new york ever again. here's the lawsuit, and it could be a game-changing lawsuit for trump personally and professionally. you see me thumbing through this. filled with example after example of what she calls a staggering scheme of fraudulently inflating assets for billions of dollars for at least a decade. >> fraud and deception that was used by mr. trump and the trump organization for their own financial benefit is astounding. claiming that you have money that you do not have does not

amount to the art of the deal. it's the art of the steal. and there can not be different rules for different people in this country or in this state. >> evan perez is out front. evan, 222 pages. there's a lot of detail in here. they're laying it all out. how bad could this lawsuit be for donald trump and his children? we're talking here about don jr., ivanka and eric, along with his company. >> that's right, erin. she is asking for a judge to essentially put the trump organization prohibit them from doing business in the state of new york if she succeeds in addition to the $250 million that she's asking, that she says were ill-gotten gains, this would bar trump and his children from leading any business in new york ever again. five-year ban on buying

commercial real estate in new york state as well as a five-year ban from applying for loans in new york state. she says, again, over ten years of fraud. one example is the mar-a-lago estate in palm beach, which, according to letitia james, is worth about $75 million. but trump was claiming $739 million. another example, his triplex at trump tower in new york city roughly about 10,000 square feet. trump claimed there was 30,000 square feet and valued at $300 million. these were lies. these were frauds that were being committed against the banks, against insurance companies, and against tax authorities. >> $300 million apartment? okay. evan perez, let me ask you about the other development here. some news also into us right now about the january 6th select

committee. so this is about ginny thomas. a source is confirming to our o own that she has agreed to be interviewed by the committee. i know this has been a fraught discussion. many thought this would not occur. is it significant? >> it is significant. obviously she is an important witness who was in touch, erin, with lawmakers in arizona, in wisconsin, urging them to overturn those election results in those states. we know from previous reporting that she was also in touch with mark meadows urging him to continue to push these efforts that trump was the victim of fraud and to overturn those election results. we have a statement from ginni thomas' attorney. he says, in part, as she has said from the outset, mrs. thomas is eager to answer the committee's questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work during the 2020 election. she looks forward to that opportunity. we don't know when exactly this

interview is going to be, but it's coming in the next few weeks. >> thank you very much, evan perez. out front now geoffrey berman, who was the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york under president trump and is the author of the new book "holding the line: inside the nation's preeminent u.s. attorney's office and its battle with trump justice department." jeffrey, thank you very much. i want to just start off here with this lawsuit, 222 pages, as you pointed out, when we were getting ready to talk here. filled with what the attorney general says is hundreds of examples. evan just laying out two of the -- or a couple of the most egregious seeming ones that basically fraudulently inflating the value of assets to get loans and then also lying about their level to the other side from when it came to paying taxes. so fraud on multiple levels. what do these 222 pages tell you about the size and scope of her investigation? >> it's an enormous complaint. it's a robust complaint. it's filled with facts.

and it's very serious. and, so, donald trump and others named in the complaint are going to have their day in court to respond to this and try and seek to challenge it. but it's formidable. >> and what it's asking for is formidable. we've never known the extent of his fortune, but a quarter of a billion dollars would completely and utterly change his life. she said that trump's team did not hand over tax records. she asked for them as part of the discovery process. they did not hand them over. but the lawyer for trump said that they, quote, diligently searched each and every room of mar-a-lago. we searched, we searched, we couldn't find any tax documents. but then the fbi went in. and guess what they found. the tax documents. same pattern on the classified documents. lawyers said we found them while we handed them all over. guess what, they didn't, and the fbi found them. >> this goes back to the stunning revelation by the department of justice a few weeks ago that they were investigating donald trump and

those around donald trump not only for the mishandling of classified documents but for obstruction of the subpoena seeking and demanding those classified documents. and that's an extraordinarily serious charge. it's mirrored in some of the allegations in this complaint. and i think it's going to present real hurdles. >> so you lay out multiple instances in your book of attorney general bill barr trying to influence you, investigations in the sdny, that he wanted to be the most valuable player on the administration's team. here he is earlier today commenting on attorney general james' lawsuit. here's bill barr. >> it's hard for me not to conclude it's a political hit job. and this is a woman who campaigned for office promising she was going to go after trump, which i think is a tremendous abuse of office to go head hunting and targeting individuals. so i think she was targeting trump. what ultimately persuades me that this is a political hit job

is she grocery overreaches when she tries to drag the children into this. >> the children are in their 40s. they have been executives in the company for a long, long time. they have children. they're not children. so that's not fair. but what do you say to him with these allegations, political hit job? >> well, you know, it strikes me as hypocritical for bill barr to be accusing another prosecutor of improperly politically interfering in justice when it was bill barr as attorney general under donald trump who did the president's political bidding and helped undermine the rule of law. and as i point out in my book, there are several instances where bill barr interfered with the southern district of new york in ways to target donald trump's political enemies and help donald trump's friends. and, so, the allegations as he's accusing on others i just find it very ironic. >> i think it's important to say, because in your book you do

go through all this. you're a lifelong republican. you actually worked on the trump campaign in 2016 so you're not coming in this as some sort of never-trumper. that's not your angle. and yet you had all these experiences and you saw this for yourself. you admit in the book now that it was craziness to think that he would work with both parties for the good of the country, which is what you say is what you believed. you end your book with this warning. you write, it is important to understand how fragile the system is and how vulnerable it can be when powerful people attempt to abuse it for political game in. sdny, we did not let that happen, but it still could. how big of a risk is trump now to the justice system? >> well, it's incredibly scary that he could get a second term. i mean, all of the dangerous and outrageous things that he did as president will be repeated in a second term, except he will be more successful in doing those things. and the first, as president, he knew he had to stand for re-election. the second time around, he'll be free of those concerns.

so i find it very troubling. and i do think that the justice system is very vulnerable because when you have a president who's intent on corrupting the department of justice, and he appoints individuals who are in charge of the department who will go along with the bidding of that president, and then there are, like, no protections left for the rule of law. >> stay with me if you can. we do have some breaking news in right now. a major decision by that appeals court in favor of the justice department in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. this is a major decision and very quick, evan perez, what just happened here? >> well, the 11th circuit court of appeals in atlanta has now ruled in favor of the justice department, at least as part of this order from the lower court judge. what they're allowing the justice department to do is to resume their criminal investigation access to those documents that the lower court judge had said they could not access while there was a special

master, this third party reviewing these 11,000, more than 11,000 pages that were seized by the fbi. the circuit court -- i'm sorry, the appeals court, erin, is also saying that at least for the part -- that doj was asking to prevent declassified documents about 100 pages of classified documents from being reviewed by the special master. again, they're allowing the -- i'm sorry, they're allowing the justice department to prevent those documents from being shared with the special master. so, on both those points, those are the two big asks by the justice department to continue their criminal investigation of those documents that were seized from mar-a-lago and to be able to keep those hundred pages from the special master. i'll read you just a part of what it says. it says that it is self-evident that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of the classified records did not result in exceptionally grave damage to

the national security. and it says that keeping those documents secure, obviously, is very, very important. we are still going through this ruling. this is a ruling from a three-judge panel. one of them was appointed by barack obama, and two of them were appointed by donald trump. so that's an important factor here to note that two trump appointed judges were part of this ruling today. >> we shouldn't have to note it, but you're right, it's significant and we do need to note it. can i just to make sure i understand. was that a unanimous decision? >> we can't tell right now. it appears that this is at least for now it prevents the lower court ruling from being enforced. again, we're going through these pages right now. but we don't know. >> all right. so, as evan goes through that, i want to give him a little bit more time. we'll let him go off camera for a second so he can do that. what's your reaction to this? this was a swift ruling and whether they say it's unanimous

or not, at least one of the trump-appointed judges, if not two, also ruled in favor of the department of justice in this case. >> well, it's a very important ruling. obviously i haven't read it. i've heard the description of it. and what it does is it allows the department of justice to go forward with its investigation of obstruction. if the obstruction case that they were doing was in the southern district of new york, it would be of the highest priority, and we would want to move quickly on it to lock witnesses in. and the justice department was stymied in that because the lower court didn't allow the justice department to use the classified -- the hundred classified documents that were seized in the search. and now that's been reversed, and they can move forward with the investigation, and i think they're going to move forward very, very quickly. >> look, it's a very significant development. everyone should understand that the ruling as the lower court justice judge who had ruled in favor of trump said not only that they couldn't continue with the investigation and their criminal investigation while the special master reviewed the

documents but gave the special master until november 30th to complete that review. elie, what do you make of this very swift ruling by the 11th circuit panel of judges? >> well, this is clearly a win for doj. but it's limited to the 100 classified documents. that's what doj appealed on. there's 11,000 total documents in this case. the special master will still be reviewing the other 10,900 or so. but, yes, this is a win as to what doj believes are the most important 100 documents, the classified documents. that means that, for now, doj is free to continue using these documents in its investigation and to carry on with their assessment, their damage assessment along with the national intelligence community. now, erin, it's not necessarily over. donald trump's team now may try to appeal this. there are two watches they can go. one, they can ask the 11th circuit to reconsider what we call enbanc, but that's not

automatic. that's actually fairly rare that a circuit will agree to that. and second of all, of course, donald trump can try to get the supreme court to take this, but, again, the supreme court is very sparing in which cases it does take. it only takes really a tiny fraction of the cases before it. so for now this is a big win for doj on those 100 classified documents. >> it's a very significant development because we'll see if there's an appeal and where it goes. but obviously it puts this on a different time frame in terms of whether the doj makes an indictment decision prior to the midterm election. so it puts all this back on the table, again, because that november 30th deadline will have going to way if this is upheld. let's go back to evan perez. i know you've had a chance to read through it. what are you seeing, what are you hearing? >> you're asking if it was unanimous. it does say that it is a unanimous decision from this three-panel judges here. it's not clear to me, by the way, that the 11th circuit allows for an appeal to an

en banc. i think from what you were just talking about with elie, the next stage might have to be for them to go to the supreme court if that is what they try to do. what the judges here are saying, though, is that they find unpersuasive the argument from donald trump that he is harmed just by virtue of a criminal investigation. that's one of the arguments that the former president was making was that by virtue of allowing the justice department to continue its criminal investigation, and, by the way, the lower court judge, judge cannon, she bought into the argument. she said she cited leaks as one reason why she was ruling in that way. but the judges here are saying that's not how it works. a criminal investigation is not in itself a harm. obviously, if they get to charges, then that's a different thing. but the justice department has an interest in being able to access these documents to do this criminal investigation.

>> evan, in your view from what you know from your sources, now if they go ahead with this, i'm sure they're going to go ahead immediately. then we'll see what happens if there's an appeal and how it goes. what does this do to the time line as you expect it of a possible indictment decision? >> look, i think for the justice department, they were not going to be bringing charges between now and the november midterms anyway. what this does is it allows the criminal investigators to keep doing their work and to not allow this entire process that trump has succeeded in getting, which is a special master, which would've been a whole set of litigation. every document that they disagreed over, he was going to litigate that. this was going to be months and months and months. so at least it gets rid of that time line. again, if this ruling stands. so, at a minimum, we know that the investigators are going to be able to do their work over the next couple of months before

the midterm elections. >> just to give you a chance to put an exclamation point on the fact when you talk about a possible en banc with the entire circuit, this was unanimous, there's no daylight, there's no disagreement. this is all three judges in complete agreement on this decision for the department of justice. two of them appointed by trump and one by president obama. >> yeah. i think it's unlikely that the 11th circuit would grant en banc. trump can ask for, but it's extraordinary to have that kind of review. what donald trump can do is try to bring this to the supreme court. but really for the same reasons, erin, i think it's unlikely the supreme court intervenes here. this is largely a procedural dispute. the bottom line is there will still be a special master, but those 100 classified documents are out of the special master's purview, and doj is free to use them for the time being in their investigation. >> and this is of course the off ramp that the justice department had offered to justice cannon. and now they have won it on appeal. thank you very much. evan perez with the breaking

news and geoffrey berman. and next the unprecedented surge in migration in america. we're going to take you where the federal agents are right now. and a major update to the story of two americans captured in ukraine tonight suddenly unexpectedly to their families they are both free. the fiancé of one of them is my guest. age-related macular degeneration may lead to severe vision loss. and if you're taking a multivitamin alone, you may be missi a critical piece. preservisi. preservision areds 2 contains the ly clinically proven nutrientormula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. "preservision is backed by 20 years of clinical studies" "and its from the eye experts at bausch and lomb" so, ask your doctor about adding preservision. and fill in a missing piece of your plan.

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tonight, the commissioner of u.s. customs and border protection breaking his silence to cnn on republican governors sending migrants to sanctuary cities run by democrats. >> i think lying to vulnerable people, for whatever the purpose might be, can just never be the right thing. >> it was a rebuke from the head of the agencies which oversees immigration in the united states. out front now is rosa flores who spoke to the commissioner. rosa, what else did he tell you? >> reporter: well, erin, the commissioner said that he was very concerned overall about these free rides that these governors are offering on multiple levels. he says, first of all, migrants

are sharing this information with individuals in their home countries. he also says that smuggling on,s could be using this to encourage migrants to cross the border. and on because the governors, in this case, desantis and abbott, are not cooperating with the federal government, it is complicating the mission of u.s. customs and border protection, and it could also be leading to more migration, something that el paso is already seeing. so much so, it is testing the infrastructure and the resources of the city. these are the struggles. he hasn't taken off the rosary on the entire journey. of migrants who recently arrived in el paso. franklin is from venezuela. he and his four children settled in for a night at the airport to fly to atlanta to begin a new life. >> he says that his wife is partially paralyzed. that's why she didn't make the

journey. this person is fleeing nicaragua. her 4-year-old daughter has wiped away her tears more than she can remember. and this person from venezuela. waits at the bus station holding a parting gift from his 2-year-old daughter. they're part of the unprecedented surge in migration that el paso's deputy city manager says is testing the infrastructure here. where are we? >> so this is the city of el paso's welcoming center. >> reporter: he says a month ago border patrol was releasing up to 250 migrants daily into el paso after being processed. now, about a thousand, and it's creating a shelter issue. >> all the ngos, all our shelters are already at capacity. so we're actually putting them up in hotels. >> reporter: and a transportation bottleneck. we have a greyhound station, we have the airport. it doesn't have that many flights in and out per day. border patrol has been

apprehending about 1,500 migrants a day, a spike from last month's 900. what you see behind me is mexico. this is one of the routes that migrants use to cross into the united states. once u.s. customs and border protection realize that the spike in migration here in el paso was not a one-day anomaly, they set up a mobile processing center here under the bridge. these buses are equipped with mobile processing technology. this is where federal agents determine if migrants stay or go back. a process that cbp commissioner is more complicated now with the recent increase in migrants from three countries. >> the cubans, the nicaraguans, the venezuelans are not subject to title 42. so they can not be removed like migrants from some other countries. >> reporter: the migrants we talked to say they survived the dangerous journey to the u.s. she says that she witnessed a rape during the journey.

and don't want to stay in el paso. where are you going? delgado is going to atlanta, too. but while in el paso, they need orientation and access to resources. that's why the city opened this migrant welcome center three weeks ago. where multiple buses chartered and paid for by the city of el paso depart daily to chicago and new york. that's where we met castro. like so many migrants, she's hoping to reunite with family and has no money. inside the airport at midnight, an odd sense of normalcy the delgado children haven't seen in a month. access to crayons and toys. how difficult is it for you to know that your children don't have their mother? he says it's really tough to grow up without a mother. his mother died when he was 9. despite the struggles for these

three families, just being on u.s. soil is a dream come true. the big question now is will these migrants be allowed to stay in the united states? and, erin, the answer to that is it depends. all these migrants need to go through immigration proceedings and asylum and other types of relief isn't guaranteed in the united states. >> rosea, thank you so much. and, tonight, a major update to a story of two americans captured in ukraine by russian forces. held captive for more than 100 days. and tonight they are free. it was released in a prisoner swap with ukraine. 40-year-old alex drueke and andy huynh were captured in june. they were fighting with forces north of kharkiv. their families got word they are freed and are currently at the u.s. embassy in saudi arabia undergoing medical checks before they return home. out front now andy huynh's

fiancé. people have seen you many times. we've talked. you always were hoping andy would be freed. i know you had no idea if he would ever come home, though. have you spoken to him today? >> i did. i finally got to talk to him for the first time in like 105 days ever since june 8th. it was just so amazing to finally get to hear his voice again and speak to him. >> 105 days? i mean, it's a miracle in so many ways. and i know you never lost hope. but of course i know there were times when you know you knew that it might not end this way. what did he tell you about how he's doing and what he went through? >> um, i asked him pretty quickly, like, how are you, are you in good health, how are you feeling? and he said he's feeling good, he's in good health. and i told him we've been waiting for this call for so long. he said he's been counting the days, too. it's just so good to know that they're okay, that they're going

to come home. this is just so out of the blue. >> so out of the blue. i know, joy, you had no idea when you say out of the blue, how did you even find out the news today? >> um, i had no idea it was going to happen. i was at work, and i had sat down for break with my best friend, and she and i were just sitting and eating some gummies. and i just got a random call from saudi arabia. and i turned to her and i was, like, saudi arabia, like why would i be getting a call? and it ended up being good news. and shortly after that we got confirmation from the state department as well. it just all became so real so quickly. >> so when you got that call from saudi arabia, it wasn't the u.s. government telling you? it was literally andy on the other end of the phone? >> well, it was an official from the embassy and she very quickly handed it off to andy. >> what was it like to hear his

voice? >> it's kind of indescribable. i mean, i was still kind of in shock. i was like how do i know it's really you. he said this inside joke we have between each other. and instantly i was like it's really him. my best friend turned to me, and she said, that's andy. it was just such an amazing moment. >> a joyful day. your name is so appropriate for this day. how soon are you hearing he could be back home? i know now it's probably for you just counting the minutes until you get to see him. >> um, everything could still change minute by minute. but tentatively we're hoping for friday. >> wow, so soon. gosh, i can only imagine the feelings that you have. so are you -- what are you going to do on that day? >> um, andy's already requested when he comes back to our house

for spaghetti with meat. he said he's been craving it ever since he went to ukraine and that when we pick him up he wants like certain fast food and drinks that he hasn't gotten to have in a long time. >> well, i know you will deliver on that. i'm so glad to be able to have a wonderful ending to this story. joy, just so glad and so glad to talk to you. thank you so much. and congratulations. i'm not sure what the right word is, but congratulations. >> thank you. and next a special champions for change. i'm going to bring you the story of ukrainian siblings who came to the united states years ago. but wait until you hear what they are doing right now to help ukrainians, many from mariupol, who are fleeing the horrors of this war.

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tonight ukrainian vez volodymyr zelenskyy demanding the world take action against vladimir putin. >> a crime has been committed against ukraine, and we demand just punishment. the crime was committed against our state borders. the crime was committed against the lives of our people. >> this comes as cnn is shining a light this week on people who are brave taking on a stand in the face of unimaginable challenges. it's a series we're very proud of called champions for change. and for me after reporting from ukraine i wanted to tell the

story about the siblings who emigrated from ukraine years ago. they're now doing an incredible thing, opening up their homes, providing financial support, doing everything to help refugees from ukraine escape the war and come to settle in the united states. mariupol, ukraine, last christmas. mariupol, ukraine now. since the start of the war more than 7 million people have been forced to flee ukraine. alexander and his wife, olga were just two of them. therapy trapped in mariupol with their two children. i met them in brooklyn, new york. their daughter was about to celebrate her seventh birthday. it was just days after they left ukraine and at times it is still so hard for them to even tell

their story. >> translator: an explosion wave took out our front door and looters came in and took whatever they liked. the shell fragments remain in my back, and there is a hole in my head. >> reporter: they escaped thanks to another family who lived 5,000 miles away. >> translator: he's my childhood friend. we met when we were about 5 or 6 years old. >> he and his siblings came to the united states over the past two decades and they started a small and now thriving business operating car dealerships. when putin invaded ukraine their lives changed, too. >> we start calling our relatives, friends, asking how they are there, and people were panicking. >> yeah, the conditions was really bad. >> we decided that we have to help them, get them out from there somehow. >> one of the things that sticks

with me it took them 19 days to get from mariupol to the ukraine border. they had three young children, they had an 8-month old baby. in the early days of the war when i left ukraine along with hundreds of thousands of refugees it took 19 hours, and it was a grueling experience. and in the context you think, wow, the suffering that they endured and what they went through, the trauma is really unimaginable. they first lived in alex's one-bedroom apartment in brooklyn. one-bedroom, one bathroom. and in that space he and his wife have hosted as many as 12 refugees at once. >> translator: of course we have our challenges, but at the end of it all i understand that they don't have anything else. they have nowhere to go. >> they reached out to their local jewish organization. it's the edith and carl marx

jewish house and they worked with them and the united jewish appeal to help them and so many other desperate families fleeing ukraine and trying to come to the united states to start a new life. how much money have you all spent and how are you managing that? >> it's hard to tell how much money. you have to get the taxi, the tickets both ways. it's really hard. >> alexander wants to find a home, get a job but he's struggling here in the united states. >> translator: it is hard. we've been here for five months with no income. >> we're just trying to help them and save as many people we can, as many families we can. we already brought 15 families here. >> 15. >> yeah, five more are ready to come to the united states. they're approved, and more people are waiting over there in the country, in ukraine.

and it's very hard to choose. >> it's a choice that no one wants to make, but the chosen in the face of such great loss are grateful for life. >> translator: they are doing a noble thing. they help people get out of the country where the war is under way. alexander uses the word noble, and that's what alex, angela, and nick are sacrificing their time and their hard earned success just to help others have a chance to build new dreams. >> translator: i dream of getting a good education here so i can have a good job. >> translator: i want to go to school as soon as possible and make good grades. >> and those children were really inspirational. the young boy there said that he then wanted to start a new business, a small business if he could in the united states. their parents never thought they'd leave mariupol.

they wanted to spend their lives there and now here they are desperately trying to build a life. they waited those five months for work papers. it is all they want to do is work, and we heard that from many other ukrainians. one woman an accountant in ukraine sitting here waiting on those papers. thanks so much for watching. you can be sure to tune in saturday at 8 p.m. for the champions for change one hour special. it's time now for "anderson." good evening. three big stories tonight. nuclear saber rattling and a military escalation from vladimir putin. a quarter billion dollar civil lawsuit against the former president, three of his grown children and hiscally. and just before airtime a major court victory in the justice department's criminal probe of classified documents from mar-a-lago. that's where we begin with cnn's jessica schneider. so this just happened. what more ca