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Russia: 60+ Killed, 100+ Wounded In Concert Hall Attack; ISIS Claims Responsibility For Deadly Attack Near Moscow; Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Reveals Cancer Diagnosis Partial U.S. Govt Shutdown Avoided; U.S. Condemns Russia's Strikes On Ukrainian Power Grid. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired March 23, 2024 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

HELENA BONHAM CARTER, ACTRESS: I didn't have a happy, we didn't pulp, and nor do we ever talk about our private lives. He'll appreciate the need to absolute discretion.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So, the revelations that King Charles, Princess Kate and Sarah Ferguson are all dealing with cancer are unusual. Even if the details remain scarce.

(on-camera): The sense of secrecy can endure even after the subject is gone. When Queen Elizabeth passed away a year and a half ago at the age of 96, the death certificate listed the cause as merely old age.

Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tom Foreman, thanks.

The news continues right here on CNN.

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.

We're following two big stories this hour first and outpouring of support after the announcement that Catherine, Princess of Wales has been diagnosed with cancer. Much more on that in just a moment.

But we begin with the deadly attack at a concert hall near Moscow that's killed at least 60 people. ISIS is claiming responsibility. There is disturbing video that shows the attack and people running to escape.

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COREN: Other video shows the panicked moments when gunman opened fire inside the auditorium where a concert audience had gathered.

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(CROSSTALK)

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COREN: From another angle you can see what appears to be four gunmen firing into the crowd.

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COREN: And a still image also appears to show the people who attacked the venue. One witnesses people trying to escape encountered locked doors.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I was sitting in the hall upstairs where the balconies were, we heard gunshots. At first, we didn't understand what had happened. Then I personally saw how the terrorists came in started shooting everyone. In the end they threw a Molotov, everything was set on fire. We were led to the exit. Turned out the exit was locked. We ran all over Crocus City trying to find the exit but to no avail. We went into the basement of Crocus City Hall and waited for the emergency services and got out.

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COREN: Well, in the aftermath, part of the concert hall was engulfed in fire and surrounded by emergency crews. Moscow's governor says the fire -- fire is quote, mostly eliminated.

Well, CNN's Ivan Watson has covered Russia extensively. He joins me now live from Hong Kong. Ivan, give us the latest details, please.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, in the last couple of hours, one of the main efforts was on trying to put the fire out that collapsed part of the roof of this enormous venue that is just outside the boundaries of the city of Moscow. This was a terrifying night for not only the people in the concert hall, which depending on which theater it was in the setup, it could have had seats for more than 9,000 audience members could have perhaps been more than 3, 000 had been looking at the schematics there. But the descriptions have been of gunman coming in opening fire on people and then triggering this enormous blaze. If you weren't in the actual theater, Anna, you might have had a relatives there.

And so, we've heard from one man who's been desperately looking for his missing wife in the aftermath of this terrible incident that led to at least 60 people killed and more than 100 wounded.

Listen to what he said to Russian journalist.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I am in complete panic, my whole body hurts, even my heart, blood pressure rose and all that. I took medicine and I felt better. I don't know what to do. Complete hopelessness. My friends can only tell me just to wait for the list of victims, wait for the phone line at the hospital to open up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: That man saying he'd called five hospitals, for example, trying to find his missing wife who was trying to go to see a band perform. Now the band itself which is the Russian band Picnic, it's announced that none of its members were heard, it had not gone on stage yet. Its lead singer, a celebrity named Shaman. He's put out a statement saying that he'll help pay for the funerals and the treatment of the people who were wounded in this terrible incident.

And you know, once again we're hearing not only about an enormous death toll the number of people wounded, but also a desperate call from a senior Moscow city official for blood donations to help people wounded saying this was a matter of life and death.

[02:05:08]

Anna?

COREN: Yes. Such a harrowing experience for those survivors. As we heard from that, that husband.

Ivan, U.S. officials say that earlier this month, they had warned the Kremlin of a -- a potential terror attack. That was dismissed by Vladimir Putin as, quote, an attempt to destabilize our society, mean, and what has happened. This is now a major embarrassment for the Russian president who is yet to really officially address this attack.

WATSON: Sure. And a major trauma for people in Russia and in Moscow, as well. But you're right on March 7th, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow put out a statement warning U.S. citizens to stay away from large gatherings and from concert halls, saying that there was information about the threat of an extremist, a possible extremist attack. I do have to note that ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack on the Crocus City Hall, putting a statement out on an ISIS affiliated account on Telegram not offering any evidence to back that up.

Earlier this week, the newly elected Russian President Vladimir Putin just on Tuesday, announced he basically dismissed this U.S. government warning saying that it was provocative, and it was trying to destabilize society. We have yet to hear from the Russian president himself about this terrifyingly deadly attack what his take on it is, and it'll be really important to see how the Kremlin will try to frame this, who they will blame for this. Ukraine, which of course, is locked in a life and death struggle with Russia, since its invasion more than two years ago, has denied any link to this whatsoever. Anna.

COREN: Ivan Watson, always appreciate your reporting. Thank you so much. Joining me now from Washington is Steve Hall, CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operations. Steve, great to have you with us.

Why would ISIS-K carry out this attack in Russia?

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, that's a tough question, Anna, because there are so many different divisions and sects inside of these, you know, of the of the Islamic State groups. Mostly, I think there's probably a good degree of just demonstration of the ability of this particular organization to reach out to unexpected places, especially places that are basically police states, like Russia to be able to carry out -- carry out this kind of horrific attack amidst the number of resources and the amount of time that the Russian security services, specifically the internal service, the FSB, is supposedly putting on these terrorist groups is quite an accomplishment.

So that's -- that's, I think one reason is to -- is to why they would have chosen Russia to try to carry something like this out.

COREN: Say the U.S. government had received a warning that a terrorist attack was likely to be carried out. They pass that information on to the Russian government. How was that received?

HALL: Well, we saw that President Putin basically decided to poopoo the entire thing. He, you know, focused on some of his domestic issues with the so-called elections, of course, they weren't elections. But you know, the process that they went through, those are politically sensitive times for Putin. He's now passed them. But at the time that the American Embassy made public on March 7th, the fact that there was intelligence that there was -- there was threat information out there was just prior to this very sensitive time politically for Putin.

And so, he decided to say no, this is all just something that Western governments are making up to try to destabilize the situation in Russia. Something that I'm sure today doesn't resonate well, with the families of those killed in Moscow today.

COREN: As to the group that is claiming responsibility for the attack is ISIS-K Khorasan is that the Afghan affiliate who was founded in 2015, by disaffected members of the Pakistani Taliban. Please tell us more about it.

HALL: These are, again, it's very hard to keep track of all these different groups, because they splinter they change their -- their -- their leadership's actually, their leadership oftentimes gets killed on the battlefield or taken up by governments. So, it's oftentimes difficult to add more complex -- and to more complexity to the situation is that oftentimes, local groups and this case in Russia we're looking at in the Caucasus region, a lot of times local groups will simply say we're going to conduct an operation and then say that we did it in the name of in this particular case, for example, ISIS-K.

So, at this point of this early stages of these things as intelligence continues to be collected and as the investigation continues as to who was actually responsible for this and how the planning occurred, and most importantly to me, how was carried out in the very repressive situation that we have inside of Russia right now. A lot of that still remains to be seen.

[02:10:08]

COREN: Yes, talk us through what you are learning about this attack, because from what we understand, the perpetrators managed to flee the scene.

HALL: Yes, it's interesting if you go back in the chronology, so I think what's becoming more and more clear is that the U.S. government, possibly in connection with other Western intelligence services, collected this information, and then did what it was supposed to do, which is forward the information, you know, to the Russian government, the Russian government, as we were just discussing, elected not to act on it. That was on the 7th, the information that came out on the 7th of March was that there was a 48-hour window on this, but that was a public announcement.

So, it's entirely possible that whoever, whatever terrorist group was responsible for this, got access to that and said, we might have to adjust and back it off a little bit in terms of time. Two weeks later, now we have this particular attack. And you know, what we have seen is in this very large mall, that's just on the outskirts of Moscow, you have all of these casualties, apparently, the shot by men with assault rifles, the numbers I think are about four right now, as well as incendiary devices, which, you know, cause the whole thing to catch fire, and then even more casualties resulting.

So again, still early days on this investigation, it's going to be difficult to get from the Russians exactly what happened because it's such a closed society, and they control the message so much, but it'll be very interesting to see where things go from here on, Anna.

COREN: Is there any reason to doubt the claims that ISIS-K in fact carried out this this attack?

HALL: I'm not sure that there's a real strong reason, aside from the fact that again, it's got to be very difficult to carry out one of these attacks in a place like Russia. That said, we have a number of different sources to include sources inside the U.S. government now who were saying, yes, we had threat information, we had intelligence indicating that there was going to be some kind of attack. We don't know the specificity of it, because of course, the intelligence is sensitive.

But we do know that the U.S. government and other Western governments seem to be aware of this and importantly, pass it along to the Russian government who instead of acting on it, chose to politicize it and do nothing with it.

COREN: Steve Hall, great to get your insights. Thanks so much for joining us.

HALL: Sure. COREN: We're turning now to the other big story, we are following. The Princess of Wales as cancer diagnosis, and the world's reaction to it.

After weeks of speculation about her health, Catherine released a video message on Friday, explaining her situation. The Princess did not disclose what kind of cancer she has, but did say she is in the early stages of chemotherapy treatment. Well-wishers have been pouring in from around the globe.

U.S. President Joe Biden was among them. On social media, he said, he and the First Lady joined, quote, millions around the world in praying for your full recovery, Princess Kate. That message was echoed by the White House press secretary.

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KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our thoughts are with the Duchess of Cambridge and her family members and friends during this incredibly difficult time. And certainly, we wish her a full recovery. And I think it's important that we respect their privacy, especially at this time, so I'm not going to go further -- further than that.

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COREN: Well, in her video message, the Princess asked for privacy, as she focused on returning to full health.

CNN royal correspondent Max Foster has more on the announcement and what comes next.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A devastating announcements from the Princess of Wales.

CATHERINE, PRINCESS OF WALES: In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful, however, test after the operation, on cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy. And I'm now in the early stages of that treatment.

FOSTER (voice-over): In a recorded message, the royal said she had begun chemotherapy to treat an unspecified cancer. After weeks of speculation about Catherine's well-being this is her first official appearance. Filmed by BBC Studios on Wednesday on the grounds of Windsor Castle, according to a royal source. She explained why it had taken some time to go public with the news.

CATHERINE: It has taken us time to explain everything to George Charlotte and Louis in a way that's appropriate for them and to reassure them that I'm going to be OK. As I've said to them, I am well. I'm getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirits.

When it comes your way.

FOSTER (voice-over): A royal source telling CNN, Kate and William had been waiting until their children began their school holidays to share the diagnosis publicly, to try to shield them from the news coverage.

[02:15:05]

Catherine hadn't been seen at any official public appearances since Christmas, off work and out of the public eye since then. In January, that Princess underwent an unspecified abdominal surgery, and was in hospital for two weeks, a frenzy of conspiracy theories emerging on social media, but few guests the Princess could have been dealing with such a serious diagnosis at the age of 42.

The Princesses announcement comes just weeks after the royal family announced King Charles himself had cancer. The King today saying he's so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did, according to Buckingham Palace.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: I think we are moving into a new royal world. It's totally unprecedented. The King was open. Kate is open. And I think it really makes us think about the royal family. We can't always imagine their superhumans going on forever.

FOSTER (voice-over): Prince Harry and wife Meghan sent their wishes to saying, we wished health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they were able to do so privately and in peace.

Despite Katherine's unprecedented openness, it's unlikely any further details will be shared by the Princess about her illness, and she's asked to be given privacy at this time. Catherine has said she's in good spirits. But her also said that she won't return to full time duties until cleared by her doctors.

Max Foster, CNN, Buckingham Palace, London.

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COREN: There has also been a wave of sympathy from those who don't have power or position. These reaction from the streets of London outside Buckingham Palace.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just saw them was very surprising and shocking and we hope she's fine and she gets --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- all the treatments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quite sad really. I feel very sympathetic for the family first. The King now -- now Kate been quite shocked really.

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COREN: For more, we're joined now by CNN's Nada Bashir in London, outside Buckingham Palace.

Nada, tell us more about the reaction inside the UK to Kate's cancer diagnosis.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course Anna, there has been a lot of scrutiny around the Princess of Wales health over the last few weeks and months and of course, there has been now an outpouring of support from across the country as you heard, there many in the country expressing their sympathies with the Princess of Wales but also of course members of her own family.

Now we did hear yesterday from her brother James Middleton, he shared a childhood photo, a family photo of the two of them together saying we have climbed many mountains together and that as a family, we will climb this one too. We also of course also heard from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex expressing their support for the Princess of Wales. They shared this statement saying, we wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately. And then peace.

And of course, the issue of privacy and privacy around the Princes of Wales health, has been something that has been under scrutiny. We know of course, this is something that the Princess of Wales herself touched on in her video message yesterday say that she needs time with her family and privacy with her family to cope with this diagnosis and with the ongoing treatment that she is now receiving in order to make a full recovery.

And that was something that was also touched on by the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. He issued a statement yesterday saying, my thoughts are with the Princess of Wales. The Princess has the love and support of the whole country as she continues her recovery. But he also did touch on the scrutiny that the royal family has been under over recent weeks. He said, in recent weeks, she has been subjected to intense scrutiny and has been unfairly treated by certain sections of the media around the world and on social media when it comes to matters of health like everyone else, she must be afforded the privacy to focus on her treatment and be with her loving family.

Now, of course, this is a personal matter for the Princess of Wales despite the fact this has captured the attention of many in the country and of course indeed, across the globe, and she did speak about having to take the time to ensure that she was able to explain her treatment and diagnosis to her three young children. And of course, the timing around when this message was delivered is important too. We understand that they waited until it was the school holidays in order to ensure that her children would not face any questioning or scratching (ph) themselves. And so, this is a very deeply personal matter the family taking efforts to ensure that they have as much privacy as they can during this difficult time.

COREN: Nada Bashir in London. Many thanks.

Well, Dr. Owais Durrani is an emergency medicine physician. He joins me now from Houston, Texas. Owais, thanks so much for joining us. Look there is so much we don't know and probably never will know. But as a medical professional, you know, what can you ascertain about Kate's condition knowing what an insidious disease cancer is?

[02:20:11]

OWAIS DURRANI, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Absolutely. Cancer is a very scary word. And it's scary to all of us when we hear that. What we know is that she had a surgery, and that there was low to no suspicion going into that surgery for cancer. Now, anytime you have surgery, and you have a mass, or a cyst, or any type of object that is removed from, in this case, the abdomen that is sent to a pathologist, and they look at those slides and those cells and see, are there any abnormal cells that we wouldn't expect. It would appear that in this case, there were abnormal cells that were concerning for cancer, which then led to the decision to undergo chemotherapy.

So that's basically what we know without speculating too much.

COREN: The Princess, as you say, had abdominal surgery back in January, she was in hospital for almost two weeks recovering. And as you say, it was a result of that surgery that the cancer was detected. I mean, this is quite common to discover cancer this way.

DURRANI: It is. And you know, there is no good cancer diagnosis. But this would be the ideal way to discover cancer. This is what we call a incidental diagnosis where you go in to deal with a another issue, and then you happen to find cancer. And so that means you find it really, really early. And then that gives you the best shot of making sure that you get the proper treatments to ensure it doesn't spread to other areas, and that you prevent future cells from going to other areas. So, it's not ideal to have cancer. But if you're going to find it, it's good to find it early.

COREN: What cancer could these be considering the initial surgery was abdominal? I realize we're speculating. But as a professional, you know, the surgery was abdominal. So, what cancer could it be?

DURRANI: Yes. So, when we say abdomen that encompasses a wide area, basically, you know, in laypersons terms, everything below the chest, a lot of people will include the pelvic region and that. So, I'll just list some organs. Once again, we're not saying that this is the type of cancer she has. But you know, we have kidneys, liver, bowels, or colon, the ovaries, the uterus, the cervix. So, all of those organs are in the abdominal area.

So once again, we have no idea which one of those organs it is, but it could be any of those. And there's a lot -- a lot of vital organs in that area.

COREN: Yes. I think that's a really important point to clear out that it's below the chest. It's not just the stomach area. Thank you for clarifying.

Kate, as we know, she's 42 years old. I mean, how common is it for young women in this age group to be diagnosed with cancer? DURRANI: Yes. So, in general, you know, it's not going to be a common diagnosis. But when you look at this age group of females are going to have a higher rate of cancer compared to their male counterparts. We've also seen this trend over the last couple of years of younger people getting cancer, of getting colorectal cancer, other types of cancer. And to be honest, we don't have an exact answer for why that is.

And so, as more information comes out, this is just a wakeup call for all of us to keep a magnifying glass on this issue. And to make sure that we meet with our primary care physicians, we don't miss any screenings. And if you feel that anything is off, make sure you talk to your doctor about it, because getting it early, gives you the best chances of survival and getting -- getting back to being a normal human being.

COREN: When you hear that someone is undergoing chemotherapy, I mean, you immediately associate nausea and hair loss. What are the symptoms are related to chemotherapy and the timeline for this treatment?

DURRANI: Yes. So, in terms of timeline, once again, we don't know exactly what type of cancer it is. So, it's really going to depend on the type. On the lower end, it could be three months, on average, it's around six months, and then some treatments can last up to a year. What chemotherapy does is it targets the fast-replicating cells. So those are cancer cells. But as you mentioned, hair cells are fast replicating the lining of our stomach and gut is really fast replicating so that's where you get nausea, vomiting, you also get immune compromised. So your blood cells and blood line cells will decrease.

And so that's why you may not see someone who is undergoing chemotherapy out in the public because you want to keep them away from all types of viruses and bacteria out there. Sometimes you'll also have fatigue and numbness and tingling in your hands and arms and it really depend on what type of chemotherapy you're going through. And everyone responds differently to various chemo therapies as well.

COREN: Doctor, many of us have loved ones who are fighting this insidious disease, to have someone with such a high profile, go public about her cancer diagnosis. I mean, how important is that?

[02:25:03]

DURRANI: It's very important it tells us that you know no human is immune from cancer it's a human condition unfortunately. And the fact that she did go public with it is going to help a lot of people, it's going to help a lot of people who may have nonspecific symptoms or who may have questions to talk to their doctors and possibly catch things early. As you mentioned, I imagine it is much harder for her, you know, having to share this with the world. I see cancer patients coming to the ER all the time. And it's a very stressful situation on them, on their family, and they're dealing with it in a private manner.

And so, I think we also have to respect her privacy, because she's having to share it with the world, but that's also helping a lot of people as well.

COREN: Yes, absolutely. She -- she was very brave and going public. Dr. Owais Durrani, we really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. Thank you so much.

DURRANI: Thanks for having me.

COREN: A battle over U.S. government funding gives way to make a deal. Ahead, how senators made their final moves to prevent a partial government shutdown.

Plus, Ukraine's power grid takes a hit in one of Russia's largest attacks as the war began. You'll hear from people who were on the ground when drones and missiles came down.

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[02:30:30]

COREN: Welcome back. There's breaking news out of Washington. Just moments ago, the U.S. Senate passed a $1.2 trillion funding package that will avoid a partial government shutdown. But it didn't come without some late-night last-minute drama.

CNN's Melanie Zanona has more from Capitol Hill.

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MELANIA ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, a deal has been reached to avoid a government shutdown. The House earlier on Friday passed a massive spending package that would fund the remaining six government agencies that have yet to be funded. And then they sent it over to the Senate. But over in the Senate, it requires cooperation from every single senator in order to be able to move quickly on bills, and Republicans were refusing to give their consent unless they got their desired amendment vote.

So that led to a standoff between Democrats and Republicans for hours they went back and forth. But they finally came to an agreement just minutes before the midnight deadline.

It has been such a tortured process to get to this point. Because Congress was supposed to have funded the government back in October, but instead they kicked the can down the road. They passed temporary patch after temporary patch and they finally released a massive government funding package at 3:00 in the morning on Thursday, leaving themselves not a whole lot of time to let lawmakers read the bill and get them through both chambers.

So, this has been a long and tortured process. There's been a lot of drama over the last few months. But it looks like Congress is finally on track to avoid a government shutdown and put this funding saga behind them.

Melanie Zanona, Capitol Hill, CNN.

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COREN: U.S. House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing to house the House Speaker in the wake of the government funding deals. The right-wing congresswoman from Georgia says Mike Johnson keeps getting rolled in negotiations. She filed a motion to remove him from the top job on Friday saying, quite a few of her fellow Republicans have expressed support for her efforts to remove Johnson. But she would not say when she plans to call for a vote.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: I filed the motion to vacate today. But it's more of a warning and a pink slip. I respect our conference. I paid all my dues to my conference. I'm a member in good standing. And I do not wish to inflict pain on our conference and to throw -- to throw the House in chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, some Democrats signaling they might vote to say speaker Johnson especially if he agrees to bring up Ukraine aid for a vote.

Well, the death toll from the terror attack on a concert hall near Moscow is now at least 60. The latest on this breaking story next on "CNN NEWSROOM."

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[02:37:41]

COREN: ISIS is claiming responsibility for a terror attack in Russia that's killed at least 60 people. Well, this is a live look outside the Crocus City Hall music venue where gunman opened fire on a crowd gathered for a concert on Friday evening. There is a stunning and disturbing video of the attack as it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(OFF-MIC)

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COREN: Other video shows people taking cover inside the concert hall when the shots were fired. People whose loved ones were inside the hall say they're devastated. A still image also appears to show the people who attacked the venue. Russian state media says they later left the scene in a white Reno.

In the aftermath part of the concert hall was engulfed in fire and surrounded by emergency crews.

Well, the White House has condemned one of Russia's largest attacks on Ukraine's power grid. Washington says Friday's strike show congressional Republicans need to approve the next round of military aid for Ukraine. Kyiv says the Kremlin fired more than 150 drones and missiles going after power facilities across the country. At least three people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded.

Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A Russian cruise missile firing off flares right before hitting Ukraine's largest hydroelectric power plant. The massive explosion part of an early morning blitz the Ukrainian say targeted areas across the entire country. The destruction massive like in this town in the Zaporizhzhia region.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): There were a lot of explosions after the first one. This woman says, there was so much flying around one couldn't realize. I had only one goal to ensure that my child is alive. I rescued him from the rubble.

More than a million people are without power and what Kyiv have called one of the largest attacks in recent times. The Russians call this morning strikes retaliatory, also releasing video of their jets dropping aerial glide bombs near the front lines. Russia's Defense Ministry saying it targeted military facilities as the Kremlin steps up its war against Ukraine while trying to blame the U.S. and its allies for the escalation.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[02:40:03]

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Legally it is a special military operation but de facto it has turned into a war for us after the collective West has started to increasingly raise the level of its involvement in the conflict.

The latest Russian attacks come just a day after the Russians fired more than 30 missiles that Ukraine's capital Kyiv. The Ukrainians believe Moscow was targeting Ukraine's military intelligence headquarters, a source tells CNN.

The Russians have tried to assassinate its leader (INAUDIBLE), at least 10 times, Kyiv says. (INAUDIBLE) wife also recently fell ill with what the Ukrainian say was poisoning by a heavy metal, but she survived.

The Ukrainians say delays in Western military aid are costing them dearly on the battlefield and in cities as civilians come under Russian missile and drone attacks. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seemingly taking a swipe at House Republicans holding up U.S. military aid to Ukraine and Congress. Russian missiles do not suffer delays in the way aid packages to our country, do he write. Shahed drones are not affected by indecision like some politicians are.

And the Ukrainian say they need decisively more Western air defense systems to fend off Russia's missile attacks on the country's urban areas.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Now hunger crisis in Gaza is getting worse with many children and mothers close to starvation. The heartbreaking stories, just ahead.

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[02:45:41]

COREN: Many Palestinians in Gaza are having to scavenge for food to feed their families, some resorting to eating grass and animal feed and drinking polluted water.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has the latest on the growing hunger crisis in Gaza. And a warning her report is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN (voice-over): Pain in the eyes of a mother whose helplessly watched her children go hungry for months. A father who thought the unthinkable, throwing his children in the sea, he says to spare them this torture of an existence. Unplace family endured month of bombardment in northern Gaza. But it's a looming famine there that's pushed them out of their home, walking 18 hours to make it to central Gaza.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): If you grab a bag of flowers, someone can kill you to take it, Mahran says. Our daily meal for our children became things we hadn't heard of before like ground soybeans, and a wild plant that we'd never tasted before. Food that animals refuse to eat. We ate.

What they'll do, where they'll go. They don't know. All they want right now is to feed their little ones.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Starvation is what brought us here. We're so tired, Najiaa says. Became very hungry. My children were crying every night. Asking for a piece of bread. We're dreaming of white bread. We were eating animal feed. For the first time in five months, they say the children are having real food. Even if only plain bread.

This is what Enteiz family left behind in the north, scenes that tell of the desperation of so many, who also just want to feed their children as they rushed the little aid that's made it into this part of Gaza. More than a million Palestinians now are facing catastrophic levels of hunger according to UN backed reports, with famine projected to arrive in the north any day now. But death from hunger has already arrived. Some of Gaza's most vulnerable children with medical conditions have died of malnutrition. Even amid an international push for a ceasefire, many more could die in this manmade crisis, where Israel's been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war something it denies. Hunger is in every corner of this beseech territory.

It's the holy month of Ramadan a time when Muslims fast when extended families traditionally gather around at sunset to break their fast together. For so many like (INAUDIBLE) could, this Ramadan has been a painful reminder of what they no longer have and loved ones lost. On better days if one can call them that, they receive a little pot of lentil stew at this makeshift camp in central Gaza.

Today she managed to get some potatoes with no cooking gas. It takes her an hour to cook her. Family has not had a proper meal since October.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): I really want meat, I want pancakes little Sarah says. And I want to go back to Gaza City. Live in a house. We had a home. Now we're in a tent.

Parents can shield their children from the bombs and now hunger.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Life is harder than you can ever imagine, Hamza says, I can't even be a father to provide for my children. We just wish we would die so we don't have to go through this life.

The little they get is a lot more than most have these days. But even that could soon be gone with warnings famine will sweep across Gaza in months, as every day more people find themselves scavenging for food, forced to pick wild plants to boil and eat. This grandmother can't hold back her tears as she washes weeds and leaves. That's today's meal. What else can they do, she says. It's the indignity of hunger. Avoidable suffering as the world watches on

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:50:00]

COREN: The world is reacting to news of the Princess of Wales has a cancer diagnosis. More on that. And why she waited so long to reveal her condition after the break.

Stay with CNN.

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COREN: Returning now to one of our top stories this hour. The cancer diagnosis of Catherine, Princess of Wales. There's been an outpouring of well wishes from around the world since the Friday release of a video announcing her condition. It comes after weeks of sometimes fevered speculation about the possible reasons she had been out of the public eye.

The Princess asked for privacy. She focuses on chemotherapy treatment, and returning to full health. She also discussed why she took so long to reveal the news that she was sick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE: This of course came as a huge shock, and William I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis, in a way that's appropriate for them and to reassure them that I'm going to be OK.

[02:55:27]

As I've said to them, I am well. I'm getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. I'll be back in just a moment with the latest on the news of Princess Kate's cancer diagnosis, as well as the terror attack in Moscow.

Please say with CNN.

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