Russian attacks expand in Ukraine, worsening civilian suffering

Judy Woodruff:

The Russian onslaught on Ukraine was largely stalled today, according to U.S. officials, but the bloodshed and terror continued.

Meantime, top American and Chinese officials met in Rome to discuss in — quote — "candid terms" Beijing's support for Moscow.

And through it all, Ukrainians are fleeing by the tens of thousands, escaping a brutal war that is barely three weeks' old.

Tonight, from Kyiv, special correspondent Jane Ferguson begins our coverage.

Jane Ferguson:

In Kharkiv today, emergency crews battled to douse the fire ignited by yet another Russian missile strike, even more civilian homes smashed in this war, now in its 19th day.

Col. Anatoliy Toryank, Kharkiv Emergency Services (through translator):

The building is in the historic center of Kharkiv. We are clearing the rubble now. We have received information that there are people under the rubble.

Jane Ferguson:

Two hundred and sixty miles to the south, the port city of Mariupol is in ruins, an apartment complex. On fire on the ground below, a boy cries for his father.

The sound of planes overhead sent these residents sprinting for cover, helpless as battles rage around them. Local resident Dima described one of the buildings Russian forces destroyed.

Dima, Mariupol Resident (through translator):

This is school number 36. Elementary school was here. Students from first to fourth grade were studying here. There were no military at this school.

Jane Ferguson:

As the Russian attacks continue to mount, so too does the death toll.

Among the latest, a pregnant Ukrainian woman and her baby. They died after being injured in last week's Russian bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital where she was to give birth. An Associated Press journalist captured this shocking video of emergency workers carrying the wounded woman away on a stretcher.

Today, 160 civilian cars were finally allowed to leave the city. The Russian siege had cut it off from food, water, electricity, and heat for over a week. Calls for humanitarian corridors, partial cease-fires that allow civilians to flee areas under bombardment have had limited success across Ukraine.

Today, in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary, rescue efforts failed. These yellow buses should be filled with civilians who have been evacuated from the villages just further beyond this hill, where some of the most intense fighting is happening. Instead, we have heard the constant thud and bang of the artillery coming from Russian positions, and, as you can see in the distance, the smoke rising from that fighting.

Col. Petro Kiselov, Kyiv Government Emergency Office (through translator):

When we were two miles from the village we were going to to collect women and children, a tank fired towards us. It was a warning shot. Our convoy was forced to turn around and go back.

Jane Ferguson:

Colonel Petro Kiselov was at the front of the convoy.

Col. Petro Kiselov (through translator):

We were in contact with the mayor from that town, and she said there were women and children waiting for us. But, if we had moved any further, they would have shot at us.

Jane Ferguson:

The police chief for the Kyiv region believes the Russians are deliberately keeping people in the towns.

Andriy Nebytov, Kyiv Region Police Chief (through translator):

The Russians have established defensive positions in the villages they have occupied. They are digging in around civilian populations and their houses. So, they are using people as human shields.

Jane Ferguson:

A few families did make it here from other areas, some pushed to the brink of exhaustion and illness.

On Sunday, in another suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Irpin, where 10,000 people are still believed to be trapped, some civilians were able to get out. Natalia and her family made it to this relief position after holding out in their home for days.

You stayed in Irpin a long time.

Natalia, Irpin Resident:

For a long time, yes.

Jane Ferguson:

Why did you stay?

Natalia:

We believed our army would finish the army, Russian tanks.

Jane Ferguson:

Do you still believe that?

Natalia:

Yes. You saw our Ukrainian soldiers, young, brave, and each of them is a hero. They helped us get right this place — to this place.

Jane Ferguson:

Not everyone made it out of Irpin alive. Nearby, the body of award-winning American documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud lay. He and his colleague Juan Arredondo came under gunfire when entering the town on Sunday afternoon. Renaud died soon after.

A senior U.S. defense official says Russia has now invaded Ukraine with 100 percent of the 150,000-plus troops it deployed, but the official said — quote — "Almost all of Russian military advances remain stalled."

Russian soldiers are now moving south from Kharkiv in what the U.S. believes is an effort to block off any Ukrainian deployments from the Donbass region. Amid reports that Russia asked China for military and economic aid, today in Rome, the first high-level meeting between the U.S. and China since the invasion began.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met his counterpart, Yang Jiechi. The U.S. says Chinese efforts to help the Russian invasion of Ukraine would trigger a severe response.

Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Adviser:

We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them. We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world.

Jane Ferguson:

As those global lifelines are reined in, protests continues inside Russia. Hundreds were arrested over the weekend.

And, this evening, on one of state TV's most popular channels, a protester unbowed.

Meantime, in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again vowed to keep fighting.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

Russia has been preparing for this war for decades. They have accumulated significant military resources for the evil, for the conquest of neighbors, and for the destruction of the Ukraine and the Europe that we know and value.

Judy Woodruff:

And Jane joins me now from Kyiv.

Jane, you did arrive. Hello. It is late there tonight.

You arrived there just a couple of days ago. Tell us about the situation there, the atmosphere in just that period of time.

Jane Ferguson:

Well, people here have been living through just 19 days of this war, but that's an incredible amount of time whenever you think about how — and many experts thought that this city would fall within a couple of days.

So, when we talk to people here — and it's not easy to talk to people in the street, because the streets are often abandoned. But when you talk to the people who make it out of the areas, who have been evacuated from certain areas, to basically be removed from the shelling, they tell us that, essentially, they have been hiding in their basements, that life has been hell for 19 days, that they have been desperate — desperately hoping that they would be able to hold out even longer.

But it's worth pointing out that, even though, as we have said in these reports, the Russian military haven't been progressing and advancing, they don't need to advance to make life here hellish for the Ukrainian people, because of the heavy artillery fire.

And we saw that today. We could hear all around the outskirts of town incredibly intense artillery fire. We tried to get out to some of those areas where the humanitarian corridors were bringing people in. And it was simply not possible.

And that has been a daily occurrence, tell — the rescue efforts — professionals here tell us. But what we have also seen in the city are volunteers in the street cooking food, food for the soldiers, food for the workers working in hospitals, food for those driving back and forth from the front line.

We have also seen more images of the Molotov cocktails that people have prepared right by checkpoints all along the roads and on the main thoroughfares into the city. So, although people here are celebrating the fact that the Russians have not advanced yet, they're very much so prepared.

When you drive around the city, you can see just how prepared it is in defensive positions.

Judy Woodruff:

And we can tell from your reporting, Jane, this remarkable resolve of the Ukrainian people is continuing.

What about in the rest of the country? What are you hearing about where things stand across Ukraine?

Jane Ferguson:

Well, as we have seen in that report, across the country, more and more places are coming under attack.

Now, we did hear today that, in Mariupol, which had been under one of the most severe sieges, they did manage to negotiate to get some people out of there.

But, again, we're seeing in cities from Kharkiv all across the south, and further to the east, and even over to the west, towards the Polish border over the weekend, we have seen attacks. So the Russian attacks are actually expanding here. And that is a huge concern for the millions of Ukrainians who live in those cities and who are not able to get out.

It is also worth pointing out that, around the country, people are very well aware that they are not entirely sure where this war is going. There has been so much speculation about whether Belarusian troop would come in from the north, whether the Russians are trying to push up from the south and completely cut off the southern cities.

And so there is a real grasp for information. People are not sure what to make of what Russia's strategy is. And they're looking for answers. They're really not sure, not only when this is going to be over, but what Putin could do next strategically and what he is planning here.

And most people are watching, desperately hoping that there could be some signs of progress with any potential peace talks and maybe a cease-fire. But, so far, we have seen far from any cease-fire across the country.

And, in fact, just before we came on air here, we have been hearing the booms across the city here from more artillery fire.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, the level of uncertainty there has to be just off the charts.

Jane Ferguson, reporting for us tonight from Kyiv.

Thank you, Jane.