reporter: so powerful and it s so heartbreaking. she lost both her parents the month beforehand. she lost her boyfriend who was she was so in love with. he was killed in fighting on the front lines in the kharkiv region and in some ways she is a kind of symbol of ukraine, standing and surviving this unimaginable loss, having sacrificed so much, holding her head up high, but really reminding all of us, i think, of the devastating human toll of this war. clarissa, as always, your reporting, your stories are so helpful for all of us to see. thank you very much and we ll speak to you soon. thanks, alisyn. please join cnn chief international correspondent clarissa ward as she goes back to ukraine one year after the war began, see what she found in this cnn special report, the will to win: ukraine at war airs sunday night at 8:00.
economies, i was interested to see michael showing us the mall that looks something like a ghost town there and i had thought so much about the death and the people killed but just that it s withering, that these cities that were thriving are now withering because of the war. i mean the images are devastating and i think we have to push ourselves to not look away. there s the human toll like you said, 8,000 at least noncombatant lives in the u.n., that s probably an underestimation. 8 million displaced from their homes. look at the impossible position that zelenskyy is in. he has to simultaneous keep up some morale in his own country and maintain the resolve of western allies, it s a really challenging position and i think just as ordinary citizens we can keep forcing ourselves to keep staring at what s going on. frank, let s talk about popular opinion. the poll we have is this ap poll, how much of a role should the u.s. have in the russia/ukraine war?
clarissa ward s reporting there that there s reason to believe that russia may be preparing for an even bigger assault now that it s to mark the one year of the war. is there a sense of that there? i think there s a fear of that here that, you know, they know the russian mind very well here and have watched mr. putin carefully. this is not a man who is easily defeated, who retreats, so i think there is this big fear he will make another strike from the north, from the east and from the south and as clarissa mentioned, they have no qualms about using the human meat grinder approach to try and strike at ukraine but let s be clear if we can about one thing, if mr. putin isn t stopped and he s made clear that he would like to re-create the soviet union, take more countries under his fold that this will not only severely weaken democracy but also embolden other would-be
more. reporter: perhaps there s no more powerful sense of belonging than this. iryna and deciding to marry. instead of a honeymoon they join the territorial defense against the siege of their capital kyiv. today, looking over their year of living dangerously, the young couple takes stock. only when you see this, you understand the value of life. and in my case it s totally, 100%. yeah, empty. reporter: this war is a tale of epic resistance by a whole nation, and the civilians who became overnight soldiers. this one year of the war, it really feels like 40 years of life. i don t feel myself so young again anymore, just because of the whole experience of all the things you have seen. reporter: they remind us just
year after the war began. you can watch the cnn special report, the will to win, ukraine at war, tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. there was tense moments in court this week a as alex murdaugh took the stand in his own murder trial and immediately admitted he lied to police about where he was on the day members of his family were murdered. why he opted to testify and what prosecutors are trying to prove. plus this huge winter storm hit ting the west coast. we have the impacts and a look at your forecast, j nin just moments. ththe hiring process used to be the death of me. but with upwork. with upwork the hiring process is fast and flexible. behold. all that talent! this is how we work now