Families flee homes in Ukraine as death toll mounts

Hari Sreenivasan:

Nick, for days you've been talking about the growing humanitarian crisis. Give us an update.

Nick Schifrin:

Yeah, so we are now seeing 1.5 million people flee from Ukraine, families choosing to leave their homes with only what they could carry, drag their children across borders. Nine hundred thousand of them have entered Poland. And what we're also seeing is something extraordinarily difficult to watch. Families who are leaving their homes getting shelled by Russians as they are fleeing from their homes. There's a suburb in Kyiv that has been the epicenter of some of the attacks around the capital, and there are families who were hit by mortars, children, mothers killed today. These are families who were trying to flee. Some of the biggest bombardments get into Kyiv and then therefore head to the West, where we are and out to safety. They never made it, unfortunately.

Hari Sreenivasan:

How long is Volodymyr Zelensky planning for this to continue?

Nick Schifrin:

Unfortunately, the word out from most of Western officials is that this will take months, if not years. Those are the words from the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, Dominic Raab, speaking this morning on Sunday talk shows and what you are seeing is an expanding war effort from Russia. An airport in southwestern Ukraine were hit by Russian missiles, and Zelensky today is warning of an attack on Odessa, that is a city of more than a million people on the coast of the Black Sea. Although Ukrainian forces managed to repel Russian troops about 90-100 miles away in another city that Russian troops would presumably have to control in order to get to Odessa. And Zelensky again is calling for no-fly zones over Ukraine. Hari, as you and I talked about yesterday, that is something that the US and NATO's simply are not willing to entertain.

Hari Sreenivasan:

What is the U.S. State Department, what are our allies willing to entertain now?

Nick Schifrin:

So Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows this morning, and he made two main points, one that the U.S. is quote very, very actively, quote unquote, considering an effort to get Soviet era or Russian made planes that are currently inside Eastern Bloc NATO countries, mostly Poland, into Ukraine. And those are the kinds of jets that Ukrainian pilots are already trained on. So, Blinken basically admitting that that was the plan. He also said something that the U.S. hasn't explicitly said so far, which is that the U.S. and Europe are considering banning Russian oil purchases. That is a step that the U.S. frankly almost said that it wouldn't consider just a few weeks ago and certainly one that Europe wouldn't consider. It would absolutely drive up gas prices in both Europe and the United States, but clearly the mood has shifted in Brussels and Washington and both capitals willing to consider that now.

Hari Sreenivasan:

Nick, we've seen reports that the Israeli prime minister is trying to engage with Vladimir Putin. What do we know?

Nick Schifrin:

Prime Minister Bennett flew to Moscow yesterday during the Sabbath, so that was remarkable, according to many officials I've spoken to. He returned to Jerusalem to speak to the cabinet today, and he said that his trip was worthwhile, quote even if the chance of diplomacy is not great. Bennett and Putin talked about trying to reduce civilian casualties in Moscow, but they also talked about, Hari, the Iran nuclear deal, which U.S. officials have hinted is on the verge of being signed. And that is something that the Israeli prime minister doesn't want to see. And the Russian government has a lot of influence over. There are other diplomatic efforts as well. Putin talked with Macron today for two hours, but French officials again said that there was no progress in trying to convince the Russian leader to back down on some of this indiscriminate shelling we're seeing in Ukraine. And finally, Hari, there will be a third round of talks between Ukraine and Russia tomorrow. So far, those talks have only produced ceasefires that actually haven't been respected by the Russian government. So not very high expectations, but still a third round of talks scheduled for tomorrow.

Hari Sreenivasan:

NewsHour's Nick Schifrin joining us from Lviv tonight. Thanks so much.

Nick Schifrin:

Thanks Hari.