we begin with scott mcclain live this hour in lviv, ukraine. first let's start with the attack on the barracks. >> reporter: they were able to get there in the immediate aftermath while soldiers were still digging through the rubble, and you can actually see them pulling one soldier out from what looks like a hole in the ground is obviously -- there was obviously enough space for him to be in there, and he looks like he came out relatively unscathed. it seems like an absolute miracle. what is less miraculous is the potential death toll here. one soldier told those swedish journalists there were some 200 people in those barracks, and he figured the vast majority of them would have been killed, so we're talking about casualties that could have been well over 100, 150. obviously hoping it's much less than that. mykolaiv in particular is a strategic city. it's in the southern part of ukraine. the russians as of late have been unable to take it. the reason they would want it is, well, there's a river that straddles it, and if the russians would be a

scott mcclain joins me live from lviv. they're traveling through to escape the war. scott, we have heard in the last few hours russia has opened humanitarian corridors to allow them to get out? has that been met? they failed disastrously over the weekend here? >> reporter: yeah, things are not looking good. the russians are offering these out of a handful of cities but they're all going to russia or to belarus, something that ukrainian president says is really just a cynical attempt to get ukrainians fleeing into russia where they'll surely be greeted by russian tv cameras to aid in the propaganda war. the red cross, which is sort of facilitating the humanitarian corridors on the ground, look, both parties need to agree on the need but also on the fine beer details, who can leave, exactly when, the route they will take. the outcomes of that, it's simply fos simply not going to work. yesterday there was a third round. the ukrainians said small progress was made. the russians said that they were discussed extensively. they continue to blame the u yanians. the ukrainians

cnn's scott mcclain reports now from a train station in lviv. >> reporter: with each new round of bombing shelling comes a new wave of people seeking refuge outside ukraine. many arrive in the western train hub of lviv where people are lined up out the doors of the station for the next train to poland. those who wait are almost entirely women, girls and boys who suddenly look a lot like men. this family fled central ukraine. she left her brother, father and husband behind to fight the russians. now she's going to poland with her mother and her two boys aged 1 and 16. >> translator: when my husband left he said to our son, you're the man of the house. and now at 16 years old he's become a grown man. our children need to have a childhood. they shouldn't become adults under these circumstances. >> reporter: well over a week into the war there are swarms of volunteers handsing out food and hot drinks, in heated tents for a break from the frigid winter cold. but sometimes tempers still flare. this woman says she's been here since 5:00 a.m. with her 10-year-old son. >> translator: i don't have

scott mcclain has more on the american veterans helping ukrainians be ready for the realities of war.few people want to have to teach and fewer want to have to use in real life. it's basic first aid for a community coming to grips with the reality of war. >> i'm afraid because we are not prepared. i am not a professional soldier, but i understand it is better to meet the enemy being prepared and with the right skills. >> dr. robert lynn is an american war veteran working with the global surgical and medical support group. it's bringing medics, doctors, and surgeons to ukraine to train civilians. these scenarios may soon become reality. training attracting engineers, teachers, dancers, all kinds of professions and age groups including high school students suddenly forced by the war to put their own plans on hold. >> i don't understand and know when i will study because now it's hard time and i don't know what can be tomorrow. >> limb is teaching people battlefield survival skills, like how to apply a tourniquet or keep an injured person breathing. with 23 years experience as an army su

. >> cnn's scott mcclain is here with me in lviv. we talked about humanitarian corridors. what is the status of talks? >> reporter: there was a glimmer of hope yesterday, obviously didn't work out very well when the ukrainians accused the russians of bombing, continuing the bombing of the cities that were supposed to have those corridors. now we have potentially another bit of hope, but maybe don't hold your brett. there's going to be another round of talks tomorrow in belarus. we assume it will be in belarus. that's where the first two rounds have been held. both ukrainians and the russians have confirmed this. the russians say their common goal is to save human lives. that might be a tad bit rich for the ukrainians to hear, considering what's going on there. things are getting quite desperate. in mariupol, the mayor says the dead and wounded are now in the thousands, in fact, things are so bad they can't even go and collect the bodies. they had about 50 buses, the mayor says, yesterday, ready to go for that humanitarian corridor. now they're down to about 30. the mayor's

as scott mcclain found out for himself. >> reporter: days after the invasion began this lviv office waswar, but not everyone who comes here is welcome. shortly after we arrived the man we're filming draws suspicion from staff. they tell us he has links to russia. police are called, documents are checked, questions are asked. more than an hour passes. the man tells us his only link to russia was a 5-year-old passport stamp. they let him go. even here in lviv, a city that is far removed from the front lines, we've had the police called on us twice, we've been asked to show our documents more times than i can count. and some people even say that random, ordinary citizens are asking total strangers to produce identification. but if somebody asked you for your identification or your passport, you wouldn't think it was weird? >> i wouldn't think. >> reporter: he says two weeks ago he was walking home after sheltering in this bunker during an air-raid alert. you saw two guys that looked suspicious. >> kyes. and they were going through the bushes. >> reporter: and they were walking through the

scott mcclain has more. >> reporter: first light in ukraine is the rising sun.ave been kept off since the war began, more than two weeks exhausted overwhelmed and completely up ended normal life. but through it all, ukraine's rail network kept running. every morning, the rail ways executives led by 37-year-old o olexander join for a call, no cell phones, no zoom. a closed circuit phone system that connects every station. it won't stay here long. they can't. they believe they're a prime russian target. >> the strategy is to move fast so that they don't catch you. >> reporter: how long can you stay in one place? >> hours. >> reporter: instead, their work managing 231,000 employees continues on a single car train headed west. for now. of often, their work is aboard normal passenger trains to blend in with the masses. since the war began, they've been in near constant motion criss-crossing the country. their decision to leave the headquarters in kyiv were made on february 24. he snapped one last picture with his two young kids, one still asleep. are they still in uk

cnn's scott mcclain is live here in in lviv. the news of this civilian corridor that was attempted in mariupol, but aware hearing that people in that corridor were targeted by russian shelling. what's happening now and will they be opened up again? >> exactly, jim. what the deputy mayor telling you, adding certainly to the information that we're getting from the ukrainian authorities, that these two cities, volnovakha and mariupol, which were supposed to have this humanitarian corridor today did not. and very few people were able to get out. in mariupol, you heard from the deputy mayor there, people were gathering. i didn't last very long before, as he says, the shelling began and there was also shelling, we understand from separate ukrainian officials on the -- on the route to the city that that convoy of evacuees was headed to. that's why things were postponed. whether they can try again tomorrow or in the next couple of days, we don't know yet at this point. in volnovakha, it was about two hours and 45 minutes into that seven

cnn's scott mcclain joining me live now from lviv.hat's the latest on the rescue efforts and why is mykolayiv so frequently targeted? >> reporter: frederica, those pictures are absolutely incredible, also absolutely terrifying to look at. those two swedish journalists said they believe five russian bombs were dropped on that site. and you can see the scale of destruction. what is remarkable about what they were able to shoot is that in the immediate aftermath, rescuers rushing to get whoever they could out of the rubble, and they actually did manage to pull one man out. incr incredibly, it looks as if there's not even a scratch on him. the death toll is likely to be far less miraculous. it has been almost 36 hours now since that strike took place and we understand from local officials that the rescue efforts are still very much ongoing. hoping that there may be more people under the rubble, that they could be able to get out. mykolayiv is a strategic place in ukraine. it's in the southern part of the country. the russians have been tr

scott mcclain joins us from western ukraine. what's it like in lviv now? a lot of folks like yourself have been waiting for the moment when you would see some sorts of attacks perhaps on the outskirts and so on, but it does seem as though this war is moving into where you've been for some time now. >> reporter: yeah, jim. until yesterday, it seems like a lot of people had become a bit desensitized to the air raid sirens. they go off on a daily basis sometimes multiple times per day. some people though now are suddenly rethinking their own safety here. whether they should stay or go. but even before the bombs dropped, there was undoubtedly a lot of anxiety in the air. this new culture of fear and susp suspicion not driven just because of the war, but the government is warning the enemy is lurking amongst the population and even among ukrainian speakers, this is a new term for a lot of people -- russian saboteurs. days after the invasion begin, this lviv office was set up to help ukrainians flee war. but not everyone is welcome. shortly after we arrive, the

let's bring in scott mcclain. scott, members of the russian government have denied that they were behind this strike on mariupol. mariupol is one of the cities that we are looking at today for humanitarian corridors. what chance do you think there is today to get people out of that city and others? >> reporter: optimism probably not the word at this stage of the game. it wasn't just one hospital. according to the world health organization there have been 18 hospitals that have been hit by the russians since this conflict began and so there was some level of success. 35,000 people were able to get out. you have success at the nuclear power plant. sumy, 1,000 foreign minister students were able to get out. i met up with some of them at the train station. here in lviv after a journey of 24 hours, they described absolutely terrifying experiences that they didn't know if they were honestly going to be able to get out. people were able to get out of another area near kyiv on the outskirts. on the outskirts of kyiv we had

let's go to scott mcclain. lviv where you see people trying to flee. they are desperate. they are so scared. what are they telling you? >> reporter: they're telling me they're exhausted, overwhelmed and desperate. the numbers are staggering. over 670,000 and almost two-thirds of those, according to polish authorities, are ending up in poland and many transiting through lviv. the western most train hub here in ukraine. it is almost impossible to board a train out of the country unless you are a woman or a child and even for them, it is extremely difficult. we have seen countless scenes of desperation, of people trying to board trains in recent days and even when they arrive on the other side of the border, many arrive not knowing where they're going to sleep at night. often arrive ng the middle of the night and relying on the generosity of the volunteers there to try to house them and feed them and make sure they have what they need. left behind at the train station is largely foreign men. i've kept in touch wit

scott mcclain has the story. >> reporter: the city's lights have been kept off since the war began.l life. but through it all, ukraine's rail network has kept running. every morning, executives gather for a morning call. no cell phones, no zoom. just a soviet era closed circuit that connects every station. >> the strategy is to move fast so they don't catch you. >> reporter: how long can you stay in one place? >> hours. >> reporter: instead, their work managing 231,000 employees continues on a single car train headed west, for now. often their work is aboard ordinary passenger trains to blend in with the masses. since the war began, they've been in near constant motion, cris-crossing the country to keep the russians guessing. the decision to leave their headquarters in kyiv was made in the early morning hours of february 24th. one last picture snapped with his two young kids, one still asleep. are they still in ukraine? how does that make you feel? >> for me, it's easier, when i know that they're safe and i have time to do my job. >> reporter: the country's rail network, one of the

cnn's scott mcclain joins me with more. you covered the polish border. it was pretty crazy up there for a while. what are you hearing now? >> we're hearing that they're finding more and more unaccompanied children. i haven't seen that but it's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps people getting separated along the way. wherever the chaos. perhaps men are finding it difficult to leave so they're sending children with others. it's not entirely clear. every circumstance is certainly different. the bottom line is it is getting easier to get out of the country. we're seeing less traffic by foot and by car. at the train station things are getting more orderly. there is a steady stream of people trying to leave. far fewer men trying to get out. women and children are lined up. the folks waiting for the train last night, they were there for hours. they didn't know when or if that train would come at all. they are allowing men on board, lesser numbers, only specific trains they are delegating. other than that, it is the smallest, most vulnerable children

cnn's scott mcclain joins us from lviv, ukraine. lviv, scott, is seen as a safe haven under attack now. how close is that to you? what are you seeing? what are people saying? >> reporter: hey, christine. we got a rude wake-up call this morning. the air raids sirens went off shortly after 6:00 this morning. it was just a few minutes later when explosions were heard and you could actually see smoke from our vantage point in the center part of the city. where we are now is in the western part of lviv. on a traffic choke point. there's a bridge and train tracks and on the other side there's an airport which we are not supposed to be filming. we'll take you back down here where we can show you sort of pushing the press back towards this area. you can see them gathered at the edge of the bridge. trying to keep people away. this was a series of explosions we understand from the military here, that there were six missiles fired at the lviv airport. four of them landed. two of them were intercepted by the air defense system and what they hit

scott mcclain is with me now to discuss. ott, mariupol city council is asking residents to return to shelters. this is something we're seeing all over the country, indiscriminate bombing. what are you learning? >> reporter: this was the day, jim, that there was hope for people in mariupol and also in the city of volnovakha, two areas in the eastern part of ukraine where the russians and the ukrainians had agreed for a seven-hour window of time to allow a humanitarian corridor, supplies, food, water, medicine to get in and to allow people to get out. so the ukrainians figured that there were 200,000 people who wanted to leave mariupol, about 20,000 who wanted out of volnovakha. the president was urging men to stay behind and fight for those cities. we are getting bits and pieces from the ukrainian side, i should emphasize, on what exactly happened. there were two different routes that these people were supposed to take out of these two different cities. in volnovakha we understand that there were shelling continuing, about two

scott mcclain is also here with me. a senior u.s.ense official says the ground convoys continue to stall and the air space is very much contested. >> that's right in was a background given to reporters. they say the russian advances around several key cities continues to stall, not making really any noticeable advancement over the weekend. also it has not moved closer to the city in the southern part of ukraine and the reason why it's so key is because from there, russian troops could very easily move onto odesa and start a new front there and start attacking from the south and try to surround the city in that way. you mention the air superiority as well. this u.s. official continues to claim the air is still very much a battleground. russia has far superior capabilities in the air. they have far more jets and flying far more flight. the ukrainians are doing well. he's trying to not only shoot down jets, not only go after tanks and armored vehicles but also trying to really choke off the russian is supply lines the make it difficult

. >> ambassador, scott mcclain reported the three leaders have arrived in kyiv.t into putin's head but could this be seen as an escalation. you've got the leaders of three nato member countries now in kyiv with the president? >> i don't think so. i'm sure the kremlin understands there is strong and united support among nato allies for ukraine. this is just a conversation that will take place in person. also to acknowledge the bravery in staying on in kyiv. he said two american journalists have tragically been killed by russian forces. there are three million refugees pouring out of ukraine into neighboring countries. the world already is affected, basically, was his argument, by this. nato standing on the sidelines and saying no nato countryaffec of rejected. what are your thoughts? >> it's a radical destabilization of the world that vladmir putin has launched. there's no question about that. it's impossible, really inconceivable to imagine any scenario where the world goes back to the status quo to the way things were in january before this awful war began. to a

cnn international correspondent scott mcclain is in lviv, ukraine, and scott, you and i were there for a long time, and seldom did the missiles reach that far, and now more and more, they're coming in that direction. what did you see? what did you hear? >> reporter: yeah, you're absolutely right, jim, you'll remember, air-raid sirens were a daily occurrence, sometimes several daily occurrence. it seems like people were desen desensitized to them. no longer do you see people shuffling to the shelters because nothing has hit inside this city until today. the air-raid sirens went off early this morning, minutes later explosion was heard even from here in central lviv, and of course we could see the thick black smoke on the horizon. we were able to figure out it was near the airport. we went out to the area, and early on we were able to get a good vantage point from a bridge right at the end of the airport runway there, and you could see that there was a building on fire just beyond that runway. that we understand from local officials is that airport or that airplane repair facility that w

cnn's scott mcclain reports. >> reporter: on saturday morning, ukrainians living in hard-hit areas of southeastern ukraine had a sliver of optimism, but by saturday afternoon, that optimism was all but gone. ukraine and russia, with the help of the red cross working as a coordinator, an intermediary on the ground, agreed to open up humanitarian corridors to get people out of the city. according to ukraine, there are 200,000 people who would like to evacuate. mariupol alone at around 20,000, wanting to get out. but just a couple of hours later, ukrainians accused the russians of continuing to shell the city, allowing only a few hundred people to get out of the city before the whole operation was canceled. for mariupol, there was fighting along the agreed-upon route that this corridor would have taken and also, the deputy mayor accused the russians of continuing to shell the city, even in the places where the buses had gathered to pick people up, just hours after they would have left. >> russian army start to bomb the places where people connected half an hour ago, so, the targets of th

scott mcclain joins me here for more on these evacuation corridors.here was this 12-hour cease fire to evacuate a number of places. what does it look like? >> looks like the ukrainians and russians aren't getting the details right. the red cross warned if you're going to make this work, you have to agree on the fine details of this and it looks like in many places, they haven't or one party is violating what they agreed on. we saw limited success. where sam is, they're seeing people arriving there. some suburbs of kyiv are getting people into city center, but one particular route, which went, they just called the whole thing off because the ukrainians are accusing the russians of blocking a convoy that had already been started. one bright spot that we have seen is the city of sumi, an area that's taken intense bombardment. >> a lot of foreign students there. >> a remarkable number. more than 700. they were trapped. their embassies were calling the ukrainians, look, you need to do more to get them out. for several days, they were sleeping in the baseme

. >> i'm scott mcclain in lviv, jh ukraine, where the first bombs dropped in city limits hours ago. the air-raid sirens went off early this morning shortly after explosions were heard from the city center, and thick black smoke seen on the horizon. according to ukrainian officials, the bombs were dropped on an aircraft repair facility which was near the airfield which we were able to see from the top of this bridge. the governor says that russia should know that lviv has become a humanitarian hub for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence elsewhere and this strike is proof that to russia nothing is sacred. >> reporter: i'm natasha bertrand in brussels, u.s. and nato intelligence tell cnn the number of forces killed in combat in the last month are in the thousands. one intelligence assessment places that number of russian troops killed of about 7,000 forces. other place between 3,010,000 forces. it's a difficult number to quantify. but the bottom line is thousands of forces have been killed in combat and that is something that russian president vladimir putin, they say, did

to the situation on the ground in ukraine now in lviv in the west of the country, scott mcclain is stationed there. from your perspective there as we've seen across the country, more attacks including in kyiv this morning. >> reporter: seems to be part of a pattern, jon. the latest attack in kyiv on an apartment building. shelling there. 37 rescued, two injured, but surely those numbers may well rise. a fire starting in that apartment complex. it seems the russians, given their apparent inability to actually penetrate into the city seem satisfied to lob bombs into the city. there's a curfew in place. people have been told to stay in their homes. you have to hope they're staying in bomb shelters instead given the obvious danger. if there is good news in this country, it is that there is a trickle of people starting to get out of mariupol, the besieged city in the southeast of the country that has been without food, waterpower or heat for two weeks. obviously, a dire humanitarian situation there. some cars, more than 3,000, have been able to get out of the city but even once they get out, loca

. >> cnn's scott mcclain is live for us in lviv in the west. can you just give us the latest? >> reporter: hey, brianna. the negotiations that took place yesterday made very little progress, but now there is this glimmer of hope with this corridor that has been agreed to from the city of sumy where an airstrike overnight killed 9 people including two children. that corridor will go to another city in ukraine. the russians are proposing a city of another corridors from a handful of cities. many routes lead to russia. something that the ukrainian president says would only aid in the russian prop paganda effort. the red cross says that the sides have to agree on the very fine details of where and when and that seems to be the holdup here. now in the meantime people are flooding for the exits of ukraine by train, by bus, on foot, at the border where the lines are very long to get out. many are also attempting to crossing by car. we were at the border with poland yesterday where we met one family who had already waited 27 hours in line to get out. they had a long way to go. listen.

scott mcclain has that story. >> reporter: days after the invasion began this lviv office was set uplp ukrainians fleeing war. but not everyone who comes here is welcome. shortly after we arrived the man we're filming draws suspicion from staff. they tell us he has links to russia. police are called. documents are checked. questions are asked. more than an hour passes. the man tells us his only link to russia was a 5-year-old passport stamp. they let him go. even here in lviv, a city that is far removed from the front lines, we've had the police called on us twice. we've been asked to show our documents more times than i can count. and some people even say that random ordinary citizens are asking total strangers to produce identification. but if somebody asked you for your identification or your passport you wouldn't think it's weird? >> for now i wouldn't think. >> reporter: anatoly says two weeks ago he was walking home after sheltering in this bunker during an air raid alert. and you saw two guys that looked suspicious. >> yes. and they were going to the bushes. >> reporter: they

. >> let's go first to lviv, ukraine and scott mcclain.viv was hit the hardest it has been since the very beginning of this war yesterday. what is the latest you're seeing on the ground there? >> yeah. the air raid sirens just finished going off a moment ago signaling that the air raid threat here has passed. they sounded earlier about 30 minutes ago. you can bet that this city is on much higher alert than it has been since yesterday when the first bombs struck within city limits. remarkably, officials say only one person was injured and not seriously in that because they struck a facility out near the airport. a much more catastrophic death toll we're seeing in the city of mykolayiv. this is a city in southern ukraine and dramatic video captured by the cnn affiliate shows people digging through the rubble franticly trying to get any survivors out. it looks like they actually pull one man out of the rubble and he is remarkably unscathed. however, one surviving soldier told those journalists he figured there was about 200 people in those ba

now lviv, western ukraine, scott m mcclain is there for us. a part of the country suddenly getting vladimir putin's attention. >> reporter: it seems like the strikes from russia are getting further and further west lately. we've seen strikes in cities like lutsk. not far from here in lviv. they've been places of relative safety for many fleeing conflict in the southern parts of the country. here in lviv, it looks like any other day in other european capitals. people are going about their business. businesses are still open. you probably would not know that this country was at war. air-raid sirens, though, have been going off almost daily for the last several days, sometimes twice a day. early on in the conflict, i can tell you, people would often quickly run to shelters when they went off. since lviv hasn't been the target of bombing so far, though, as of late, it is remarkable how complacent and desensitized people have become to the sirens. it seems like, over the weekend, it was a bit of a wake-up call. a military strike hitting 30 miles fr