♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, russian resistance. as their military pounds ukraine, russian president vladimir putin is also waging a disinformation campaign at home. >> he's been using the word war, could be prosecuted criminally. >> thousands arrested for daring to speak out. others so at odds with the regime choosing to leave their country. >> i don't want my children to be part of it. i don't want to be part of it myself. >> and the light in the darkness. a parent's heartache. losing a child in an unimaginable way. >> she was screaming. and i said, get out of the house. >> but out of that deep heartbreak, former tv producer michelle hoard summoned the will

to survive. >> how do you find that strength? >> more than anything was my defiance. >> tonight she shares her roadmap for resiliency with our robin roberts. plus the real-life copycat. the pet lover who spent thousands to clone her cat. why some people's claws are out.

♪

good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, as the russian military continues their relentless attacks from the sky, abc news has learned that president biden will announce an additional $800 million in military aid to ukraine at the white house tomorrow. that commitment will come just hours after ukrainian president zelenskyy delivers a rare virtual address to congress where he is expected to plead for more help for his devastated nation. here's abc's ian pannell reporting from kyiv. >> reporter: we're at the scene of one of those russian strikes that took place in the heart of the capital, kyiv, this morning. you can see the extent of the damage. we don't know whether it was a missile or a rocket. but the scale of the destruction suggests it was a large bombardment. this in some sense is a reflection what was we're seeing of russian tactics evolving over the last few days. they've made no significant gains on the land. their invasion has stalled in the face of stiff ukrainian

resistance. and they're switching to more and more of this aerial bombardment of civilian infrastructure, of defense industries, military sites, and of course residential apartment blocks. and that's why we're seeing the number of casualties continue to increase. >> our thanks to ian. the refugee crisis in ukraine is spiraling out of control, hitting an alarming new mark today. across the border in russia, many citizens are publicly opposing putin's war and are now making difficult decisions of their own. now nearly 3 million ukrainians have fled their devastated country in just 20 days, and they're not the only ones leaving home. russian citizens who disagree with the war are also trying to get out of their own country. thousands of residents there at odds with president putin's regime. their country's relentless assault on their neighbors. leaving is an increasingly difficult endeavor since russia closed its air space to european airlines. >> armenia was one of the few

remaining destinations that you could go, along with belarus, kazakhstan, georgia, belgrade, serbia. >> i received emails and calls from friends saying i need to leave, that this is too dangerous. but i ignored this. >> reporter: constantin fled the country days ago after the warnings increased. >> then i started to get calls from people who were not my friends but sometimes government officials, saying i probably should leave. >> reporter: the university of chicago professor was on sabbatical in his home country when the invasion began. >> the russian government, after the start of the war, basically closed down every outlet that i was writing for. they closed down the radio stations that i went to. they closed down the tv channel that i went to. they closed down facebook. so it became dangerous. and it also became sort of useless to be there. >> reporter: a few weeks after invading ukraine, russian president vladimir putin signed a law that makes the spread of,

quote, make information punishable by up to 15 years in prison. >> everyone who speaks against war, even using the word "war," could be prosecuted criminally. so now a person could be prosecuted for something that was written, say, five years ago on facebook, or another social media. they will never remove anything that i've written. >> the russian playbook is designed around disinformation. it is really clear that if they are starting to crack down on free press, if they're cracking down on their own people's access to social media and outside sources of information, that the war is not going well. and that the only way for them to maintain any hope of trying to win this war is they have to keep the truth from their people. >> the main propaganda about the war is that there is no war. there are some skirmishes, there are no casualties on the russian side, and basically they are trying to establish order in

ukraine because the main premise of starting this war was that there is no government in ukraine. >> reporter: alexi skripko rushed his wife and four children out of the country last week as the war in ukraine escalated. >> you see those news reports, the russian army, the russian troops are in ukraine. and it's a shock for you. >> reporter: they're temporarily living in armenia. >> it's basically this feeling of helplessness. you know something bad is going on, and you can't do much to change it. leaving is one of the options. and for me, it was the only one. >> reporter: he, too, was worried about putin's restrictions on free speech. >> when you cannot call a spade a spade, that means something bad is going on. so i don't want my children to be part of it. and i don't want to be part of it myself. >> reporter: inside russia, cracks are starting to show. on russian state tv last night, a producer running onto set holding a sign saying "stop the

war, don't believe propaganda, they're lying to you." the broadcast cutting the feed. that woman, marina nazkovanazkoa appearing in a moscow court today, her lawyer posting this photo on an app. >> it was my own anti-war decision. >> reporter: the kremlin dismissing her protests as hooliganism. she's charged with an administrative offense for a previous social media post and bust pay a fine of about $300. as of now she is not being charged under russia's new fake news law. >> perhaps they're balancing, we've got to control the narrative, but we also need to not create a hero out of her by sentencing her to prison and making her another navalny type case. it's also boss that i believe they're telling the world one thing, and they're going to do something else to her. >> reporter: putin is also trying to silenc critics online. meta may soon see its popular apps, instagram and whatsapp,

banned in russia. the prosecutor general's office allegedly looking to label it an extremist organization. russia has opened a criminal case after meta eased its rules, allowing threats of violence against invading russian forces, in some cases russian leaders. meta saying in part that the policy is temporary and only applied in ukraine itself and that we have no quarrel with the russian people, we will not tolerate russia-phobia or any kind of discrimination, harassment, or violence towards russians on our platform. inside russia, facebook has already been restricted. instagram blocked. the head of instagram posting this message. >> the russian government has decided to block instagram in russia. cutting off millions of people from loved ones and friends around the world. >> it is entirely plausible that the playbook that putin and his government is working, like sure, might have worked in 1980. i don't know that it works in 2022.

i don't know that you can take a state that had freedom and restrict it. >> reporter: perhaps no russian is more familiar with the consequences of speaking out against putin than opposition leader alexei navalny. he was in court again today. the state prosecution asking to sentence him for 13 years on fraud and for insulting the court. he pointed to the russian tv producer as proof, russians are unafraid to rise up. russia is big, navalny said, there are a lot of people in it and not all of them are ready to give up their future and the future of their children. his arrest last year was the canary in the coal mine for some russians. >> before all this wave of -- a year and a half ago, it was a couple a month. nowadays, every week i get several calls at least. >> reporter: she's a russian immigrant and an immigration attorney in los angeles. he says she's getting calls from some navalny's followers now

seeking asylum in the u.s. >> the main reason why people would leave russia or any other country is because they don't feel safe over there. they are scared for their lives. they feel like their life has been threatned and if they just stay there any longer, they might, you know, face harsh consequences. you know, get killed in some cases. >> reporter: in february, the southern border reported 769 encounters with russian asylum seekers. that compares to just 72 encounters in february of last year. she believes these may be some of the last russian asylum seekers for awhile as putin may tighten his grip on his people. >> the people that are already here are very happy and lucky. whoever is left after the events in ukraine took place, they are pretty much stuck over there. and it's a terrible situation. i feel horrible for those people.

>> reporter: alexi skripko says he hopes to return to russia but wants a change in russian policies first, and he has a message for ukrainians. >> i could say i apologize, but -- this is too little. i'm ashamed, i'm sorry. but i realize that these words, they cannot convey the depth of my feelings. so my message has always been, if you would like to help someone, help the ukrainians. >> as a russian, i feel shame and guilt over, as many russians feel shame and guilt now, for years, for trying to do something to stop this, to stop the plight of the war. i'm sorry we will not be able to do this. up next, a mother's heartache. how she found the strength to survive and is now sharing a powerful lesson with us all.

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♪ former tv producer michelle hord's life took a heartbreaking turn when she learned her 7-year-old daughter, gabrielle, was gone, murdered by her father, michelle's ex-husband. but in those darkest days, she found light and purpose. here's "gma" anchor robin roberts. >> how would you describe her to someone? >> effervescent. it was like her little feet never touched the ground. bubbly, great sense of humor.

a little bossy. >> reporter: 7-year-old gabrielle was the love of michelle hord's life. >> i can feel her spirit. there are times, especially if i'm in the ocean or in quiet, where i literally can hear her say "keep going, mommy, keep going, mommy." "don't give up." >> reporter: the power of a mother's everlasting love and heartbreak. michelle's beautiful daughter taken from her in the most unimaginable way. >> i love you, can't wait to see you. >> june 6, 2017. you get a call from gabrielle's nanny. and it's every mother's worst nightmare. >> she was screaming. she said, "there's blood everywhere." and i said, "get out of the house." and i got on my knees and collapsed and said, god, i do not know what i'm walking into, but give me the strength to walk into it. and that moment, obviously, will

just be seared in my memory. my pastor standing there, grabbing me out of the car to tell me that she was gone. >> reporter: murdered at the hands of her own father, just hours after michelle and gabrielle's dad finalized their divorce. was there ever any indication, anything during your marriage? >> one of the things that i've had to come to terms with is that there sometimes is not an explanation for things. that you have to live with, it will never make sense, it will never add up. there was no violence in the home. there were no signs. >> reporter: her ex-husband, sentenced to 25 years to life in 2019. michelle speakig out in court. >> i will live with a hole in my heart but a purpose in my spirit. i will die trying to guarantee that the 27 hours i lovingly took to bring that baby girl into the world was not in vain.

and that despite your best efforts, you couldn't erase her life. >> how do you find that strength? >> early in my 20s, my mother passed away suddenly. i had to learn how to cope, how to keep going. so i think that some of those building blocks helped me here. but more than anything was my defiance. whatever is trying to stop me from whatever i'm supposed to do, i shall not be moved. i'm a fighter, and i was going to keep fighting for her. >> reporter: day by day, michelle worked to find the light in the midst of darkness. the one time "gma" producer relying on her faith and turning to writing to channel her pain. >> the profound quiet of your absence now filled occasionally by the cardinal's song, seven visits from the tooth fairy before the sparkle and fairies were gone. when something traumatic and unexpected happens, i think we

all look for familiarity. writing is like breathing for me. i realized that this was my testimony and it was important to share it. >> reporter: her writings now a book. "the other side of yet." help people explain what you mean by that. >> we all have these definitive inflection points s of "before." sometimes it involves loss. usually it's grieving what you thought your life would look like. in that moment you have the possibility to pivot and say, this was true, this happened. yet there can be more. >> how did you take that first step forward? >> survival looks different every day. survival today has been my ability to get up, get dressed, try to get cute, sit across from a dear friend, do an interview. some days, survival means not getting out of bed. sometimes faith is about putting a foot out in front of you at the edge of the cliff and knowing that somehow, something's going to catch you. >> reporter: her tribe, she says, there to help break her

fall, including her now husband, axel. the couple marrying last year. >> i think the gift of vulnerability, as difficult as it is sometimes, it's okay to say, i need help. it's okay to say, i don't even know what i need, can you just show up? >> reporter: now michelle fights to ensure gabrielle's legacy lives on through her nonprofit, gabrielle's wings, to help uplift other children. she has a playground named after her, tell me about that. >> it was designed to help children of all abilities, which is amazing. there are things for all kids to do. nothing makes me feel better than when i stop by sometimes just to sit. and a family is there and watching children, you know, just enjoy it. >> reporter: gabrielle's spirit comes to life throughout the neighborhood where she grew up in new rochelle, including here at hugenot children's library

and across the world, helping children in underserved communities thrive. >> so that's where gabrielle's wings came from. she loved butterflies. so the idea of her wings soaring and lifting other children became the impetus of the work we're doing. >> reporter: michelle mov forward, but always finding ways to keep gabrielle close. >> barbara's the star of the show. this was her favorite doll. she's in my bag at all times. >> what is your hope? with someone picking up this book? >> there is no linear stages of grief where there's a beginning, middle, and end. so be kind to yourself. my prayer is that this book is a testimony and a bit of a roadmap where people who are struggling can find their way. >> our thanks to robin. up next, they say no one likes a copycat. you'll meet one animal lover who spent big bucks to clone hers.

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♪ finally tonight, it's no secret that some animal lovers

are attached to their pets. that's one reason kelly anderson cloned hers, spending, get this, $25,000 to do it. she's not alone. singer barbra streisand cloned her beloved dog, samantha, twice. but despite the rise in popularity, some critics have their claws out, saying that a rescue animal could offer the same companionship. and here many of us thought cats already had nine lives. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.