are now command and control components as well as aviation assets along that border. and many of the troops who took part in the northern failed offensive above and around kyiv have now taken positions in order to participate in this offensive. it is a three-pronged attack, reportedly. coming down from the north to the east, up to the south, as they soften the ground, we suffer ourselves these towns, these front lines in the donbas region are being shelled day in, day out. we visited one, where many people are desperate to evacuate, but told us they simply don't have the means to do it. the town is no stranger to war. eight years this has been the front line of ukraine's battle with russian-backed separatists. people here are used to shelling, they have never experienced anything like this. a missile can be heard overhead, an emotional man approaches us. they smashed the old part of town, he says. as we talk, the artillery intensifies. i told him it is better to go home now because there is a lot of shelling. he said there is more shelling where he lives. as russia prepares a major offensive in the east, front line towns like this are getting pummeled. so you can hear constant bo bombardment. this is the bomb shelter down here. you see this building has already been hit. more than 40 people are now living in what used to be a clothing store. lida and her two sons have been here for three weeks. she wants to leave, but says her boys are too scared to go outside. we're afraid to stay and afraid to go, she tells us. but it is fate. whether you run or don't run. on an apartment block, an icon of the virgin mary has been painted. a plea for protection, but there is no respite in the bombardment. if you look over here, you see the remnants of some fresh strikes. 37-year-old government worker ratislav looks at what remains of his family's home. he takes us inside to see the full scale of the destruction. it is completely destroyed. mercifully no one was at home at the time of the strike. >> my children's photograph. >> reporter: his family has already left. but he says he plans to stay. i'm afraid, like anybody else, only the dead aren't afraid, he tells us. but a lot of people are still here, living in bomb shelters and we need to support them. authorities say roughly 2,000 people remain in this town. there is no water, no heat, electricity is spotty. the local school has become a hub, to gather aid and distribute it to the community. this volunteer spends his days visiting the elderly and disabled. today he is checking in on 86-year-old lydia. petrified and alone, he has yet to find an organization willing to come and evacuate her. when there is no electricity and it is so dark and there is shelling, she says, you can't imagine how scary it is. she tells us she recites prayers to get through the night. i never imagined that my end would be like this, she says. you can't even die here because there is no one to provide a burial ceremony. for igor, it is agony not to be able to do more. i promise you, he says, i will help you to be evacuated. as we leave, lydia is reluctant to say good-bye. it is terrifying to live through this time, to do it alone is torture. it is so nice to see real people, she says. probably it is going to get worse. a prediction all but certain to come true as a second russian offensive draws near. the fear that so many people in the east have, john and brianna, is that after the humiliating failed offensive in the north and now the humiliation of the sinking of the moskva, and with this new general being placed at the helm of russian operations, this alexander dvornikov, known as the butcher of syria for his role in that conflict, that we're going to see a doubling down on the most brutal of tactics. a lot of people looking at what's been happening in the southeastern city of mariupol, where we have seen civilian structures targeted, we have seen maternity hospitals and civilian shelters reduced to rubble, and fearing the worst that we could see those scenes playing out across the donbas region as this offensive gets under way. >> clarissa, that piece is heart breaking to see lydia, the older woman there, not wanting to let go of your hand, telling you, you can't even die here. do you have any update on what is happening with her? >> reporter: so, john, after our piece first aired, we have had this outpouring from people online, on twitter, who desperately wanted to know what they could do to help lydia. we have been making a lot of phone calls, talking with igor, that volunteer who you saw in our story and other organizations. it is difficult because they can find a way to get her out, but they can't necessarily find her a facility to take her to, where she can get the treatment that she needs. she is in a wheelchair, she requires considerable amount of care. we are still working to help try to organize that, and we are hopeful. but one point i really want to underscore that igor told us is that the case of lydia, which is so heart breaking, and walking out of that apartment was agonizing, honestly, is -- it is not an isolated case. we are seeing so many like lydia across this area, particularly with elderly people, particularly with those who have various disabilities, the effort that is needed to try to facilitate and orchestrate a massive evacuation and get them to places which can offer the level of care that they need is so difficult at any time, let alone against the backdrop of this ugly war, john. >> yeah, it is so tough, she is just one of many, clarissa ward, thank you so much for that report from dnipro. 51 days into russia's invasion, the focus has shifted to southern and eastern ukraine as russian forces regroup in those areas. officials are urging residents to leave before it is too late. earlier today i spoke to pa pavlo kirolenko. thank you for joining us this morning. can you give us an update on mariupol and if ukrainian troops control any part of it still? >> translator: the ukrainian troops are in control of the city of mariupol. the ukrainian flag flies over the city of mariupol, whatever anyone may say. and the ukrainian troops are courageously defending mariupol. the street fighting and tank fighting is continuing in the streets of the city, and the territory of the city. but as i said, our defenders are very courageous and they are holding mariupol. >> the goal for the russian forces is to get mariupol and create a land bridge to crimea. how would that change the war that we are expecting to grow in the east? >> translator: well, i will start by saying that the enemy cannot seize mariupol. the enemy may seize the land that mariupol used to stand on, but the city of mariupol is no more. the city of mariupol has been wiped off the face of the earth by the russian federation. by those who will never be able to restore it. and i will say this with full responsibility as a representative of the ukrainian government, because to restore mariupol, that is only something ukraine can do, something that ukraine can do with the leadership of the head of state, and the whole presidential and government hierarchy. because i was involved in the restoring mariupol's infrastructure and building the european standard infrastructure there, and that is something the russians will never be able to do. so the city of mariupol is no more. however, as for the land bridge, the so-called land bridge with crimea that the russian federation is talking about, well, i will say there is still fighting in zaporizhzhia region, fighting goeing on around khersn and they're pushing the enemy and the so-called land bridge to crimea, that is something that is an illusion of the enemy. as is the blitzkrieg that they were planning to take over ukraine. that is all an illusion. >> sir, we're hearing some different estimates on when -- we know there is fighting in donbas, we know there is fighting in the east, but we're hearing different estimates on when the large scale battle is going to begin, the french have said maybe it is here in the next few days, right now america's projecting time in the next couple of weeks. can you give us a better sense of the timeline? >> translator: so the enemy has been able to regroup on all -- in all the main directions. and we have seen attempts to breakthrough from the north, on the border between donetsk region and kharkiv region. and we have been repelling these attacks, and we have the enemy has suffered some losses in armor and personnel. but we have not yet seen a full scale offensive from all directions as we expected. now, there are a number of factors that impede such an offensive at the moment. one of them is the weather. the current -- the kind of weather we have been having impedes the passage of heavy armored vehicles. and -- but i believe it is a matter of several days, rather than weeks. and therefore i have been calling on all the population in the area to evacuate as soon as possible because -- and we are taking practical measures to enable this evacuation because the enemy is not going to wait. they have a column of heavy armored vehicles waiting with personnel that is exposed to our efforts to destroy it, and they will continue heavy artillery strikes on civilian populations, so that is something that they're going to do. >> governor, we really appreciate your time this morning, thank you so much for speaking with us. we'll be checking in with you here in the coming days. >> translator: thank you. and stay safe. we have more on the breaking news on the ground in ukraine. russian cruise missile strikes outside of kyiv, one day after the crown jewel of russia's naval fleet in the black sea sinks. and a new warning from the director of the cia about the potential nuclear threat posed by russia. plus, we're joined by a former economic adviser to vladimir putin, who says there is one thing that the west could do that would end the war within a month. lactaid is 100% real m, just without the lactose. tastes great in our iced coffees too. which makes waking up at 5 a.m. to milk the cows a little easier. (moo) mabel says for you, it's more like 5:15. man: mom, really? i'm brianna keilar live in ukraine. a former top economic aide to vladimir putin says he thinks that the key to ending the war in ukraine is a full embargo on russian oil, telling the bbc, if western countries would try to implement a real embargo on oil and gas exports from russia, i would bet that probably within a month or two russian military operations in ukraine probably will be ceased, will be stopped. and joining me now is andrei illarionov, former chief economic adviser to vladimir putin. sir, thank you so much for joining us. tell us why you think that this would work so quickly. >> good morning, brianna. i think it is a very important nonmilitary instrument to influence decision-making process in kremlin. the reason is very simple. right now the rating use from export of oil and gas from russia considered around 40% of all budget revenues in russia. it will take into account direct and indirect rating use. altogether it will be probably close to 60% of all revenue for the federal budget. assuming that these revenues would be reduced substantially as a result of implementation of full embargo for energy export from russia, we understand it cannot be absolutely full because we have china, maybe some other smaller consumers, nevertheless, it would affect the main bulk of importers of energy from russia. and assuming that russia at this moment does not have access to credit market because of sanctions and assuming that foreign exchange reserve of the central bank of russia are frozen, russian government, putin's government, does not have resources to spending and all the spendings would be forced to be reduced by 40% to 50%. russian government did not see even back in the '90s. that is why the regime will be in the position that it would need to stop operations, to look for some -- and to see some negotiations with ukraine. >> it is very interesting. i do want to ask you, andrei, as someone with insight into vladimir putin's personality a bit, this warship that sunk in the black sea, how embarrassed do you think he by that, if at all? >> i think from the purely military point of view, it is even from the purely military point of view it is very important because it is a fragment of the black sea fleet. it is incomparably more important from the point of view of symbolic significance because it is number one ship in the black sea fleet, it is the largest one, it is a ship that has been used by putin personally all the time when he visited sevastopol and black sea fleet and participated in all these navy parades. it was the same ship that sank several georgian boats during the russian/georgian war back in 2008. it was the same ship that a attacked island snake in the beginning of this particular war. and the reaction of the ukrainian soldiers to this attack became viral in social media and around the world. and it is also interesting that that particular ship has been built in mykolaiv, in ukraine, in the largest ship building plant in the former soviet union. it is interesting it has been hit by missile from same area, from mykolaiv. it is a lot of symbolism in this case, and certainly it has name moskva, the capital of russia, so this is a very, very painful blow to the morale, and the status of the russian navy and the russian army. >> really fascinating, andrei, thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. the french military says russian troops are preparing for an offensive to conquer the donbas within days as russia claims to have made advances in the region. and back in the united states, brand-new reporting on the january 6th investigation. cnn obtains new text messages from two of trump's closest allies in congress. how they really felt about the efforts to overturn the election. ♪ my garden is definitely my passion. my garden is my creative outlet. find m more ways to grow at miracle-gro.com as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to $500 a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities.™ breaking news this morning, never before seen text messages uncovered by the january 6th committee show how two trump congressional allies, congressman chip roy and senator mike lee, went from encouraging the effort to at least block the certification of the 2020 election to warning against it. i just want you to look at the evolution of texts from chip roy to mark meadows. on november 7th, he writes, dude, we need ammo, we need fraud examples, we need it this weekend. on november 19th, he writes, we need substance or people are going to break. on november 22nd, he writes, freaking rudy needs to hush. and on december 31st, chip roy writes, the president should call everyone off. joining me now to discuss cnn senior political correspondent abby phillip, anchor of "inside politics" on the weekend and maggie hagberman. both chip roy and mike lee did not go along with the certification on january 6th itself. what does the evolution tell you here? >> they questioned their colleagues who did go forward with it. i think the evolution tells you what we already knew, that there was no evidence and that people knew it at the time. there was a long period of time from the days after the election in which many republicans thought let's give it some time to see if evidence emerges, but clearly based on these text messages, before the start of the new year, many republicans in washington and elsewhere around the country knew there was no there there. there was no evidence, long before january 6th, and yet, many of their colleagues continued forward. and it just tells you that all of this is a farce. there are a lot of people out here claiming that it is partisanship to say that these election claims are false, when in fact people on both sides of the aisles knew this then. >> maggie, roy and lee saying help me help you, and they clearly never got the help they thought they needed. >> no, that's right. i think abby has it exactly right, john. you had a bunch of people right after election day who thought there is a window here, it is not unheard of shortly after an election to look at, you know, ballot counting, to-l look at various options in various states, never seen on this scale. there were people who were aware that there was nothing materializing, not just in terms of the baseless claims of widespread fraud, but also that we're going to undo this, we have this path and this path and this path. by the time you get to the beginning of january in 2021, you are days away from the electoral college vote being certified in favor of joe biden and you have a vice president, mike pence, making clear he does not have the legal authority that trump's allies were claiming he did, and those texts lay out clearly there are others, looking at that landscape and saying this is just not real. >> not real, and potentially dangerous, because roy and mike lee, leading up to january 6th, telling mark meadows repeatedly, this is a really bad idea. this is really bad for the country. mark meadows can't argue that no one warned him. >> yeah, i mean, i was struck by that too. it is not just that they knew there wasn't any evidence, but that they feared that this would pose a threat to american democracy itself. they understood that by pushing forward on these false claims, by pushing mike pence to decertify the election, even this attempt to put forward these false electors, they were all attempts to undermine the country and the constitution, so, again, even that part of the scheme was known at the time to be -- to be what it was. and, you know, it highlights that the january 6th committee's work isn't just about the violence on january 6th. it is also about this scheme that was anti-democratic in nature, that is still present in the republican party's politics today. >> let's talk about the january 6th committee, because miss maggie haberman is part of an article in "the new york times" this morning that talks about steven miller testifying to the committee yesterday for hours and hours. and the committee, according to the reporting, kept on asking about the speech that the former president gave on january 6th and the language he used, kept on saying, we, we, we. let me play you a little bit about that speech. >> we will not take it anymore. and that's what this is all about. and to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. >> so, maggie, what is that you think the committee was after yesterday? what was the significance of that language? >> so, john, stephen miller was there for roughly eight hours and there were two contentious points of discussion, and inquiry, and one was about the use of the word we in the draft of the speech -- in the speech that president trump, former president trump clidelivered. there is a gap in the draft they showed, they have the draft and what trump actually said. the question they seem to want to get at was, you know, is the word we intended as, you know, an incitement to the crowd to go ahead and march on the capitol and everything that followed after that. miller's reply according to multiple sources is that we is a word used in political discourse for decades, that it was used by president kennedy in his moon landing speech and so forth, i don't get the sense that the committee got a whole lot of out of miller. he did invoke executive privilege about his conversations with the former president. the other area, though, that was contentious in his testimony was questions about election fraud. and he kept pushing back on the committee officials saying, you know, there were pieces, places where there was fraud, he pointed to specific instance. to my knowledge, he did not offer any evidence there was widespread fraud but seemed to echo the former president's claim that things were stolen. stephen miller is still in trump's orbit, that is not surprising to me. anybody who is still in trump's orbit is parroting what trump is saying on this. it was one of the more interesting pieces of testimony that we have heard. >> it is interesting to me about when it is occurring too. they tried to get miller in front of them for a long time, but this has been nearing the end of the questioning at this point, abby. what does it tell you that the committee really is asking a lot of questions about the former president himself here? >> yeah, i mean, i think they're still very much interested in what president trump, former president trump knew on that day, and in the days leading up to it, what his advisers were telling him, what the planning was around his activities on that day, around what he would say to his supporters, and, again, as we have been discussing in last few weeks, what he was doing in those windows of time in which the violence was escalating on capitol hill, and people were trying to reach him and get to him, people were trying to convince him to say things and yet he said very little and in fact said very little to call off his supporters. so, at the core of this, really, is what did the president know at the time, and why did he behave the way that he did, given that so many people around him seem to understand the stakes of what was going on and why this was such a dangerous road for him to go down. >> fair to assume we could be hearing more from that committee sometime soon at this point. abby phillip, maggie haberman, thank you for being with us. the breaking news, russian air strikes hit outside the ukrainian capital, one day after russia loses one of its most valuable warships in the black sea. it is now at the bottom of the black sea. plus, reports that moscow sent a formal warning to the u.s. to stop arming ukraine, threatening, quote, unpredictable consequences. ( ♪ ) ♪ walking on n ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ ♪ some ♪ ♪ may say ♪ ♪ i'm wishing my days away ♪ ♪ no way ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ welcome to your world. your why. what drives you? that's your why. it's your purpose, and we will work with u every step of the way to achieve it. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen, painful. emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®. ask your doctor about tremfya® today. breaking this morning, russia says it hit the outskirts of kyiv with a cruise missile, striking what it describes as a military facility. this comes as fighting intensifies in the east and ukraine braces for a major russian offensive there. back with me, retired brigadier general mark kimmitt. we're talking about the offensive which everyone seems to think will happen any day now in the east. talk to me about the intelligence that is assessing when and how it will begin. >> well, the how and where is what our intelligence platforms are pretty good at. we have overhead platforms, satellites that we can see, troop movements, we have low level drones that can see, we're listening to their communications through signals intelligent. we have people on the ground, they have people on the ground that are no doubt watching these roads as they're moving down here. we think toward izyum. it will not come as a surprise where they are and hopefully ukrainians will do something about that artillery minefield so on and so forth. but the when is a little bit harder to know. >> talk to me about the idea of this three-pronged attack. what are the three prongs? >> i think there are three options. there is obviously this notion of coming down here from izyum, trying to cut off the ukrainian troops in here. they might try to go deeper, but that would be very difficult. but in all these cases, of course, you know we have the front lines here, you will probably see some actions by the russians here to -- what we call holding the nose of the troops that are down here, so that these enveloping forces can come down or even maybe send some up from mariupol. but the whole notion of capturing, getting behind the lines, rather than going straight up, i think, is probably what we'll see. >> we're talking about this region over here. what witould the ukrainians do counter that? >> they're probably already hardening their lines down here, more minefields, more intelligence, moving up artillery, but i think the most important thing, john, will be to prior to the attack, this takes a huge amount of equipment, fuel, ammunition, they're going to be stockpiling that in locations near where they decide to do the attack. those are pretty lucrative targets. you'll see where the artillery is, where the supply depot is, you kind of want to take them out at the knees rather than try to fight them face to face. >> great having you here. thank you so much for helping us understand this. new cnn reporting, a congressman targeted about i rus by russians, details ahead. in the latest setback for home buyers, mortgage rates hit the highest level in more than a decade. stay with us. welcome to the eat fresh refresesh at subway wait, that's new wait, you're new too nobody told you? 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well, we found her in prague between the ideal cup of coffee and a truly impressive synthesizer collection. ...but you can find her right now on upwork. better? better. when the world is your workforce finding the perfect developer, designer, marketer, or whomever you may need, tends to fall right into place. find top-rated talent who can start today on upwork. hybrid work is here. it's there. it's everywhere. but for someone to be able to work from here, there has to be someone here making sure everything is safe. secure. consistent. so log in from here. or here. assured that someone is here ready to fix anything. anytime. anywhere. even here. that's because nobody... and i mean nobody... makes hybrid work, work better. real challenge for perspective home buyers to go with high prices and low inventory, mortgage rates hit 5%. christine romans here with that. >> 5%, we haven't seen this kind of a number in a decade, home buyers and refinancers, lock it now. 5% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, up from 4.72% just last week. that is spiking 2 percentage points in the past few months. we haven't seen rates like this in a long, long time. look, the housing market is hot. there just are not enough homes for sale to meet demand, sparking bidding wars and sending home prices to record highs. now you have rising mortgage rates on top of this, it is keeping home ownership out of reach for many americans. particularly first time home buyers. imagine a $350,000 home purchased a year ago at 3%. that same monthly mortgage payment will be more than $300 more expensive today, that's $3600 extra a year for the same house, same mortgage. fair warning, mortgage rates are only going to go higher from here. interest rates affect borrowing costs, on the rise, the federal reserve hiked rates in march and confirmed it will raise rates from here. this is how you get rid of inflation, start jacking up interest rates. people concerned about inflation now it is going to cost more to borrow money. >> real money. christine romans, thank you very much. breaking news coverage on the ground in ukraine as russia strikes the outskirts of kyiv overnight. the latest from the battle front. plus -- ♪ i write the songs that make the whole world sing ♪ >> the story behind the man who writes the songs, dana bash sits down with barry manilow for her special "being barry manilow." (vo) wildfires have reached historic levels. as fires keep raging, the need to replant trees keeps growing. so subaru is growing our commitment to protect the environment. in partnership with the national forest foundation, subaru and our retailers are proud to help replant 1 million trees to help restore our forests. subaru. more than a car company. the russian invasion of ukraine is forced more than 4 million people to leave that country, the fastest growing refugee crisis since world war ii. this week's cnn hero is doing all she can to help. theresa gray, a paramedic and nurse from alaska sent medical teams to natural and humanitarian disasters for the past six years. recently, she and her fellow volunteers travelled to romania, they provided care and comfort to hundreds of ukrainians in need. >> what we were expecting to see was large groups of people housed in tent cities, and actually they are housing these refugees in individual dorm rooms. they have got food. they have got shelter. but the trauma is the same. >> they have lost almost everything. >> this is filled with women, children and elderly. there is a flu outbreak currently that obviously affects the children. we also have pre-existing conditions. it isn't just about fixing the broken arm or giving you medicine, it is making that human connection. sometimes you need to hold their hand and walk them down a hallway and listen to them. we try to meet the needs of whatever presents to us. human suffering has no borders. people are people. and love is love. >> to see theresa's organization in action, go to cnnheroes.com. nominate someone you know to be a cnn hero. now we have a story, 25 years in the making. tomorrow night, cnn anchor an chief political correspondent dana bash sits down with barry manilow for "being barry manilow." they discuss his career, his music and his new musical "harmony", it is a true story set in nazi germany, but it has relevance right now that is unmistakable. here is a preview. >> these six brilliantly talented young men found musical harmony and personal harmony. ♪ even in their relationships, a jewish fellow marries a gentile woman, it was harmonious in every way, standing in stark contrast to what was happening in the world around them. ♪ >> we don't know them in america, but they were so famous that the story -- they just disappeared. all their records were destroyed. >> destroyed. all the movies, 12 movies were burned. they just annihilated them after being so tremendously popular around the world. >> harmony's relevance now is chilling. with war raging in ukraine, innocent lives disrupted by hate. doing this musical now, with everything going on, not just in the world, but with anti-semitism, on the rise. >> unprecedented new levels of anti-semitism, yeah. i think one of the many joys about doing this show now is that it seems to be resonating more than ever. and that's remarkable that after everything we have been through that it is landing at this time. >> sounds very current. >> sounds very current. >> joining us now is the host of cnn's "being" series dana bash. i feel like you made this special just for me. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> thank you very much for this. listen, i mean, barry manilow says this feels very current. this show he's doing feels very current. sadly current. >> sadly current. you know, i was able to see the show, it is currently in new york, the premiere was this week. and there is this -- there are lots of moments where you're watching and you feel all the feels but you can -- it connects to today. there was a character named rabbi, one of the six harmonists and he belts out the question why, why. and as he's doing it, as that character is doing it, you can feel in the audience, john, not just transporting back to nazi germany, but also what is happening right now, why, why does such evil take hold? especially given the fact that it is just wanton power that was happening back then, and is happening in ukraine right now. >> now, the show just opened on broadway, sadly barry manilow couldn't be there for the opening because he's sick again. how is he doing? >> he's doing well. he feels okay. he was devastated, he put out a statement, devastated he couldn't be there. but he has been there every step of the way. he, with his writing partners bruce sussman, he's been there for the previews. as you saw in the clip, there for rehearsals. that's one thing i learned about our musical hero, john, barry manilow, is that he does not rest on his laurels. whether it was this musical or his show, which is record-breaking in las vegas, he's there every single day, working on the lighting, working on the choreography, working on the arrangements still of the music that in this case, in the case of the musical, he began to write 25 years ago. the pop songs, of course, he wrote five decades ago. >> so interesting, what i take from some of the clips i've seen of your show also it hasn't been easy to be barry manilow. i used to carry, this is true, i used to carry a quote from barry manilow in my wallet, no one was more surprised than me to find out i wasn't hip. basically it was barry manilow admitting when people told him that there were those who didn't think he was legitimately talented and a star that somehow he was corny, he was surprised that people felt that way at one point. and to me it was sort of a life lesson, live your life, don't care what people say. >> i didn't know that about you. that's fascinating that you had that quote in your wallet. and it is one of the themes throughout our discussions, which is i'm just a regular guy, he said that to me, you know, what is it like to be as famous as you are. he said, am i famous? i said, yeah, you're kind of famous. but on the note of the critics way back when, they were very tough on him. and he said that, you know, you can say i don't read the reviews, but he did. and it took a while to get over it. and it certainly helped that the critics came along, they came long to where his fans were, where the public was, that they understood and understand who he is and i will say about this show "harmony," even though he's had all of this success, this is, he said, his proudest achievement and, john, when you go see this show, you will understand why. >> dana bash, thank you very much for this. "being barry manilow" airs this saturday at 11:00 p.m. eastern and 8:00 p.m. pacific on cnn. watch or set your dvr. thank you. cnn's coverage continues right now. russia retaliating, russian forces say they have shelled a military facility on the outskirts of the capital, kyiv. this after the biggest war ship, biggest wars sship sinks to the bottom of the black sea. a major military victory for the ukrainian forces as there are claims a missile took this ship down. good morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm bianna