Russian shelling of civilian targets causes day of carnage across Ukraine

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• Judy Woodruff:

  It has been a day of carnage in Ukraine.

  Russian bombing struck a maternity hospital, sending new and expectant mothers fleeing. There was also continued confusion about a plan to deliver Polish Soviet era jets to Ukraine, while the U.S. sent anti-missile batteries to Poland.

  Late today, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, tweeted a warning about Russian propaganda that accuses the U.S. of creating bioweapons in Ukraine, saying — quote — "We should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine or to create a false flag operation using them."

  In and around Ukraine, the humanitarian catastrophe continues to spiral. More than two million Ukrainians have fled their nation, as more seek shelter within it.

  Having just returned to Lviv, in the country's west, Nick Schifrin again begins our coverage.

• And a warning:

  Images in this report may disturb some viewers.

• Nick Schifrin:

  This is a hospital under attack, a maternity hospital, a victim near childbirth, just the latest target in the siege of Mariupol. The city was supposed to be under a cease-fire, so residents could flee safely. Instead, the bombardment resumed. Mariupol officials say two weeks of war have killed more than 1,100 civilians.

• Iryna Venediktova, Ukrainian Prosecutor General:

  What we now see in Mariupol, in this absolutely civilian place, so many terrible things, with war crimes, with crimes against humanity.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Iryna Venediktova is Ukraine's first female prosecutor general, equivalent to the attorney general. She is investigating Russian war crimes.

  Do you call these attacks war crimes because you believe they are specifically targeted at civilians?

• Iryna Venediktova:

  Absolutely. I say it. We have now 1,000 cases, actually. It's ordinary soldiers who understand whom they kill, actually.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has fast-tracked an investigation against Russia focused on attacks on civilian targets, as seen today in Kharkiv.

  But the battlefield is the crime scene.

• Iryna Venediktova:

  Now it's very hard. In a few months, it will be impossible. That's why the main goal of prosecutors and investigators, to fix war crimes, to collect this evidence.

  So I can demonstrate, if it's possible to demonstrate. It's cluster bombs in Kherson region, for example. And we can see such possibilities in the main cities of Ukraine.

  This in the chest of the boy. His family tried to run from Russian tanks. And this is a piece of projectile in his chest.

• Nick Schifrin:

  In Sumy, rescuers worked through the night to pull survivors from the rubble of homes damaged in an airstrike.

  How would you define justice? Is it holding to account Russian soldiers, Russian commanders, or even Vladimir Putin himself?

• Iryna Venediktova:

  All of them, of course, all of them.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Putin included?

• Iryna Venediktova:

  I am sure that Vladimir Putin is the main criminal of 21st century.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Ukraine did manage to evacuate more than 40,000 people today in humanitarian corridors, adding to the exodus of those escaping the war.

  The U.N. estimates 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, but remain in Ukraine, many in miles-long lines heading west. To see the conditions they faced, we traveled the same route.

  So, we're just leaving Odessa. The drive back to Lviv, near the Polish border, is supposed to be 10 hours, but we think it might take two days, because we're going in the same direction as so many displaced people who are fleeing the fighting. So, we will see how it goes.

  The road from Odessa first heads north toward Kyiv, and then turns west on Ukraine's central artery. The route is 500 miles. We ended up driving for nearly 20 hours through hailstorms and, the next day, through Sunnier skies on roads lined with checkpoints, some with troops, others just to slow would-be invaders.

  For hours, the traffic starts and stops. They flee on a single road from this war's epicenters, B.B. for Luhansk, B.E. for Mykolaiv, A.X. for Kharkiv. And many tape the Russian word deti, children, as in children on board, including in this car, where Daria and her father have spent the last three days after fleeing Kharkiv.

• Daria, Evacuated From Kharkiv:

  There is no electricity, and, all time, we sit underground. And it was really — we are afraid of this. Maybe I go abroad in Europe, but I hope I will return my native city, Kharkiv.

• Nick Schifrin:

  You want to go back home?

• Daria:

  Yes, of course.

• Nick Schifrin:

  A senior U.S. defense official said today there have been no significant movements toward Kyiv or Chernihiv.

  In the east, Russian troops are still laying siege to Kharkiv, to the south, Mariupol also besieged by Russian forces. And in the strategic port of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian troops have repelled Russia for nearly a week. To stop Russia's advancement, Zelenskyy once again demanded a no-fly zone or jets.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President(through translator):

  This is about human lives. We ask once again, solve it faster. Do not shift the responsibility. Send us planes.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But the U.S. again today rejected Poland's plan to transfer Soviet era fighter planes to the U.S., then Ukraine, fearing that would expand the conflict, even though Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that was the plan.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: That gets a green light. In fact, we're talking with our Polish friends right now.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Today, Blinken punted.

• Antony Blinken:

  Poland's proposal shows that there are some complexities that the issue presents.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy (through translator):

  So, when will the decision be made? Listen, we have a war. We do not have time for all this.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Part of fighting that war is a national curfew. By 10:00 p.m., all of Ukraine's cities are under curfew. The streets are quiet, and kept quiet by volunteer patrols.

  They're a neighborhood watch born from the war. They coordinate with police, and are allowed to enforce martial law with their own weapons. They were already friends, but now a night on the town now takes on new meaning.

  Yuri Dyakun is a 23-year-old fitness coach.

  Why is it important for you to enforce the curfew?

• Yuri Dyakun, Lviv Territorial Defense (through translator):

  First, to identify those saboteurs that can harm our country, our city. They usually operate at night.

• Nick Schifrin:

  That means checking anyone who's out too late.

  It's ten forty-five, 45 minutes after curfew started, and these guys saw a suspicious car, so they surrounded it. They asked him questions, and they left him go. On a night like tonight, most of these guys would usually be having fun. That was at least before the war. Now they're dedicated to doing what they can for their city.

  Others hope this city is the road to safety. We came across the Mishyna family 12 hours after they fled Kyiv. Katya doesn't sugarcoat their fate for sons Illya, 6, and Kiril, 8.

• Katya Mishyna, Kyiv Evacuee:

  I told them the truth. I told them that this is war, and this is bombing noise. So they know why. But, in another hand, I'm happy that they don't understand all the reality that is surrounding them.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The reality is, they will soon be split. Dima and all Ukrainian men 18 to 60 can't leave the country.

• Dima Mishn, Kyiv Evacuee (through translator):

  I'm sending them off, and I will stay here. I will help send humanitarian aid to Kyiv, to Kharkiv, and will encourage my relatives to meet me here and help. For now, that's my plan.

• Nick Schifrin:

  They are hopeful, but their future remains uncertain.

  We checked in with the family in the few days since we met them. Katya and the boys made it Gdansk in Northern Poland, but they have nowhere to stay, because the city is overwhelmed by Ukrainian refugees. The best they have been offered is a place in a gym.

  Judy, as for those images from Mariupol and that attack on the hospital today, the WHO says Russia has now destroyed 18 medical facilities across the country. But we have learned tonight those pregnant women that we saw evacuated at the top of the story are all safe and sound.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Thank goodness for that, amidst all the rest of this carnage.

  Nick Schifrin, thank you for your incredible reporting.