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U.K. Defense Minister: No Evidence Of Russian Withdrawal; Crews Scramble To Find Survivors As Death Toll Climbs From Deadly Rains In Brazil; Brazilian City Ravaged By Flooding, Landslides; Kamila Valieva Set To Compete In Women's Free Skate; Report Alleges World Bank Group Unit Funding Xinjiang Projects; U.S. Troops Arriving Near Poland's Border with Ukraine; South Korea Reports 90,000+ Cases for Second Straight Day. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 17, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

[23:59:44]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone I'm Michael Holmes live in Ukraine with new claims doubting the Russians of withdrawing troops as they say but actually adding thousands more along the border.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Vause at CNN's world headquarters with a new investigation alleging a subsidiary of the World Bank invested hundreds of millions of dollars in companies using forced labor in China's Xinjiang region.

[00:00:06]

VAUSE: Nearly 100 people believe dead in Brazil after a month's worth of rainfalls in a single afternoon on one city.

HOLMES: Hello everyone, NATO and Ukraine throwing cold water on Russia's claims that it is wrapping up some military exercises and pulling back troops from the Ukraine's border.

A senior U.S. official says talk of diplomacy from Vladimir Putin is just a guise and Russia has actually added about 7,000 troops to the region in recent days.

Now, the U.S. State Department claims Russian forces are moving into fighting positions and the British defense minister says he has seen no evidence of a Russian troop withdrawal.

Now, new satellite images show Russia adding forces to several reason -- regions close to Ukraine. These pictures show a newly constructed pontoon bridge in southern Belarus, just six kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

Meantime, NATO leaders met Wednesday in Brussels, the Secretary General suggesting the alliance could further strengthen its Eastern flank to protect its allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, SECRETARY GENERAL, NATO: There are signs from Moscow that diplomacy could continue. But so far, we do not see any sign of de-escalation on the ground. No withdrawals of troops or equipment. This may of course change.

However, what we see today is that Russia maintains a massive invasion force ready to attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Ukraine's president is vowing that his country will not succumb to Russian provocations. Volodymyr Zelensky traveling across the country on Wednesday to mark a day of national unity.

In Kharkiv meanwhile, near Ukraine's border with Russia, CNN Sam Kiley has been asking locals how they feel about a possible Russian invasion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The chorus of Kharkiv opera house singing in defiance of this. Russia amassing what the U.S. says are 150,000 troops on three sides of Ukraine's border.

In Kharkiv, 25 miles from the frontier, a Day of National Unity is quickly marked amid dire warnings from Washington.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An invasion remains distinctly possible.

KILEY: Here though, a message of calm.

Do you expect an invasion?

No, we don't expect it, he says. I think we should be ready for anything. But I'm also sure everything is going to be fine.

If the Russians did attack, they'd have a short run to Kharkiv.

We're driving north towards the border with Russia, which is now about 15 or 20 minutes away. About half an hour and beyond that is the City of Belgorod.

Now around Belgorod, according to Russian reports, there is the first Guards Tank Army. On paper, they're capable of mastering 50,000 or so infantry, 600 to 800 tanks. They have a scanner surface to surface missiles. But there isn't a single sign on this road, North of Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people of any kind of Ukrainian military activity.

Just trucks waiting for routine crossing into Russia. And business as usual at the border crossing here. Russia is on the other side of that fence. The locals here relaxed.

Lyudmila (PH) says, how is it that we're forced to quarrel with our brothers? I just can't comprehend it. On the contrary, we should not have borders at all. There is no will to fight with Russia and we don't see the will of the Russians to fight with us. There are no armed forces, not even a hint, says Alexander.

In case Russia does send tanks into this vast landscape, Ukrainians insist that they recall the words of their national anthem. Our enemies will die as the Judas in the sunshine, and we brothers will live happily in our land.

Sam Kiley, CNN, Kharkiv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And joining me now from Washington Jeffrey Edmonds is a senior analyst at CNA, that's a nonprofit research and analysis organization, also former director for Russia on the U.S. National Security Council. So, great voice at this time.

[00:05:10]

HOLMES: The U.S. Secretary of State says Russia could still invade at any moment, there was a Ukrainian intelligence report that said the current Russian troop level is not enough to effectively invade. What is your read on capability and separately intent?

JEFFREY EDMONDS, SENIOR ANALYST, CAN: Yes, thanks for having me. I think even on the outside without access to highly classified intelligence, we can tell that almost 70 percent of Russia's ground forces are still on the border with Ukraine. The reports about units pulling back, those units actually moved to locations that were actually closer to Ukraine.

And so, I think the common assessment among military analysts at least is that Russia does have enough ground forces and air forces just in the military in general to invade much of the country.

HOLMES: All the indicators would be that Vladimir Putin is not getting what he wants so far. How big of a risk factor is that? You know, he's not going to want to end -- the end result to look like he's backed off, that it was a climb down.

EDMONDS: No, I think that's right. I mean, I think if you were advising Putin right now and he asked you if he should withdraw, you'd say, well, if you withdraw, you proved a couple things. One is that you're aggressive and it's horrible. And that the reason you were deterred was because of NATO and U.S. shipments of weapons to Ukraine, and the threatened -- the threat of sanctions.

And so, I agree with you, I don't think he's won anything at all at this point.

HOLMES: And to that point, I mean, Putin clearly wants what he does want as a broad regional security agreement, not some stopgap measure. What's happening now is leverage in a way, isn't it? What would that agreement look like if he got his way, got his wish list? EDMONDS: I think it would be something drastically different than what we've seen. Now, I think, you know, in some ways, this is the culmination of 20 years of disagreements over how the Cold War ended. And I think it would -- I think that he would only be happy if Russia was once again a central figure and decider as to -- into what the security apparatus of Europe look like. That you couldn't make decisions about European security without having Russia on the table.

And as you know, as we've seen from the treaties, they offered NATO and the U.S., these are very maximalist demands that are really kind of absurd when you think about them and are largely disingenuous.

HOLMES: There were -- there was -- I mentioned a Ukrainian intelligence report that was out this week. And part of what it said was this, Russia focuses on destabilizing Ukraine's internal situation, including the use of economic and energy tools, cyber- attacks too and we've seen one of those recently.

If a weakened destabilize Ukraine is what Russia wants, is it succeeding?

EDMONDS: I think it has succeeded to some degree, but I would disagree that that's actually what Russia wants. This isn't just about turning up the heat in the East, or creating more instability, that's certainly going to be part of something.

I think this is much more about Russia asserting itself, both in Ukraine physically, and in the security apparatus of Europe.

And so, I think that the Ukrainian leadership, in some ways has focused a little too much on what they refer to as hybrid warfare or destabilizing operations. Russia has enough military power in the region to conduct normal conventional traditional military operations. And I think that's what they really need to be concerned about.

HOLMES: Yes, fascinating. Jeffrey Edmonds in Washington. Really appreciate the analysis. Thanks so much.

Well, I'll be back with much more from Lviv at the bottom of the hour. First though, let's throw it back to John in Atlanta with the day's other news. Over to you, John.

VAUSE: Michael, thank you. We head to Brazil now where at least 94 people are believed dead after floods and landslides north of Rio de Janeiro. Rescuers are still looking for survivors in the city of Petropolis where heavy rains turn city streets into the rivers.

Shasta Darlington has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A terrifying scene as rushing water carries a car down an embankment. Heavy rain drenched the city of Petropolis, a mountainous region of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, causing deadly flooding and landslides. Emergency crews tossed debris out of a giant hole racing to find

anyone left alive under the muddy mess. Dozens are dead including several children. The Rio de Janeiro firing Civil Defense Department says it's unclear how many people are still missing.

Rio's governor visited the area to assess the damage

GOV. CLAUDIO CASTRO, RIO DE JANEIRO: I think that it's not time yet to discuss numbers. Our work now is to try to find survivors in this horror scene, to clean and to rescue any bodies that are here.

[00:10:00]

DARLINGTON: A rescuer carries a dog to safety, and residents look on what's left of their neighborhood.

More than 1,500 families have been displaced as the property destruction is enormous. The city has declared a state of public calamity. One shopkeeper says he lost everything in a matter of minutes.

HENRIQUE PEREIRA, SHOPKEEPER: It arrived by surprise. It started flooding gradually. The wall here in front was taking everything. The water pressure was taking everything. Everybody on the street had 100 percent damage. It was very difficult. Now, to start over.

DARLINGTON: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro who's on a trip to Russia tweeted that he has asked for immediate assistance to be sent to the victims. Rio's Civil Defense says that Petropolis had more rain in one afternoon than the historical average for all of February. Officials are urging residents to relocate to safe areas or shelters until the debris can be cleared away.

Shasta, Darlington CNN, Sao Paulo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Let's have more on this from Derek Van Dam at the CNN Weather Center. So, Derrick, we know there's been a lot of rain already. Is there more to come?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Unfortunately, John, there is more rain to come across Rio de Janeiro and many other states across Brazil.

In fact, going forward, you can see how extremely active the satellite imagery is. This is typical of La Nina season which were in, the weather patterns and into, of course, the winter season for the Northern hemisphere Southern season for the Southern hemisphere.

Look at the precipitation moving over this area. Here's Petropolis where just some of the many reports of flooding have occurred. And you can see the thunder storms moving over the same location for several hours at a time.

It is incredible this experience, 210 millimeters of rain in a three- hour total. That is exceeding the entire monthly average of 200 millimeters in Petropolis.

So, it's not just that particular location in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but it's also inland where we've had excessive precipitation according to the NASA Global Precipitation monitoring system. It has picked up on rainfall over the past week in excess of 400 millimeters in some locations.

And unfortunately, we have seen the end result with landslides that have taken a deadly toll on some of the states across Brazil.

More rain to come as I mentioned before just North of the city of Rio de Janeiro we could see over the next few days rainfall in excess of 150 millimeters.

Of course, with the mountainous terrain across this area, eventually that rain soaks into the soil and eventually gravity winds drawn and that destabilizes the soil and causes these landslides and mudslides to occur which by the way, can travel over 50 kilometers per hour as they move mountains down to the bottom of the hill.

VAUSE: Jake, thank you. Jake Van Dam there with the very latest and the forecast, appreciate that.

As heavy rain turns deadly in Brazil just over the border to the South, the lack of rain is a major problem for Argentina. Officials say wildfires burning in the Northeast since mid-January have now scorched more than 1.2 million acres, burning almost 50,000 acres a day close to 200 square kilometers.

Parts of Argentina are affected by an historic drought and the ongoing La Nina weather pattern which is contributing to low rainfall and high temperatures.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Russian skater Kamila Valieva who tested positive for a banned substance is the favorite to win a gold medal in figure skating when she takes to the ice just a few hours from now.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Monday the 15-year-old could continue to compete even though she failed a drug test in December. Outrage over the decision has only grown louder after the New York Times reported that the -- along with the banned trimetazidine normally used to treat angina, Valieva declared taking two other heart medications but neither one is on the list of prohibited substances.

Live to Beijing, CNN Steven Jiang has the very latest with us now.

You know, if she wins this gold medal or she's bound to win I think, you know, a medal, finishing being in the top three, you have to think of what goes through the minds of all those who are competing against her.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, John. That's why according to the IOC, there are several things that can happen on Thursday night. One is there will be an asterisk appearing next to her results to indicate that ongoing investigation and then of course, they have said there'll be no medal ceremonies for any event that she takes part in. That's why it's affecting now I just heard the Russians but also other teams that have won or will win tonight.

That's why we understand Thomas Bach, the IOC President has held a behind closed doors meeting with Team USA, for example, because obviously, they won the silver last week in the team event.

So presumably, to reassure them about the IOC's position on this issue, but also trying to find a way to recognize the achievements of clean athletes and teams.

[00:15:05]

JIANG: Now all of this, of course, is again shining a spotlight on the issue of minimum age for athletes to compete in skating at the Olympics.

Right now, it's 15, which is why Valieva is there. But there have been suggestions, you should be raised to 17, or 18. But a lot of people have said the issue here is not the age of the young athletes, because for one, if they're considered mature enough to compete, they should be treated the same when it comes to doping.

The other issue here is, according to experts, the root cause of all of this is if there are corrupt adults around these athletes trying to flout rules to gain unfair advantage -- unfair advantage, then raising the minimum age of athletes wouldn't solve this problem.

According to them, the issue here is Russia. Take a listen to what our sports analyst Christine Brennan has just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: They've been stealing medals, but in some cases from clean athletes, and it continues.

And then, they kick the can down the road. What I would do is you have to basically say to Russia, you cannot appear, no athletes at the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024. No athletes from Russia at the Milan Winter Olympics in 2026. And maybe even go to L.A. in 2028. It should be so severe because what they have done here is basically blow up the Olympic Games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIANG: So, that's obviously a very strong position. But at least for now, John, the Olympic Games continue on with all eyes on Valieva as she skates on to the ice on Thursday night, John.

VAUSE: I got to say, Christine Brennan makes a very strong point there. Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing.

Well, one of the world's leading development bank stands accused of funding companies that allegedly use forced labor in China's Xinjiang region. We'll have all the details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: For decades, the International Finance Corporation, a sister organization to the World Bank proclaimed success in funding companies that help end poverty in developing nations. But disturbing findings in a new report alleged hundreds of millions of dollars went to companies using forced labor in China's Xinjiang region.

CNN's Ivan Watson has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): A new report accuses an arm of the World Bank of pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Chinese companies that the report accuses of participating in a campaign of repression against Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region.

Now, this comes as the U.S. has been leading a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics after accusing the Chinese government of genocidal policies and Xinjiang of the mass roundup, an internment of up to two million ethnic Uyghurs and members of other ethnic minorities.

[00:20:04]

WATSON: The reports titled financing genocide from the Helena Kennedy Center for International Justice. It says that the International Finance Corporation, this arm of the World Bank which is aimed at poverty alleviation put $486 million into for Chinese companies at the height of the government campaign against Uyghurs in Xinjiang accuses these companies of participating in and benefiting from forced labor programs from compulsory land appropriation programs, and publishes photos of what it says are facilities factories owned by some of these companies in close proximity to suspected internment camps over the years as those internment camps then grew.

The report goes on to say that there does not appear to have been adequate due diligence and monitoring of the investments to make sure that they met the IFC's standards and says that there was only one monitoring group that went out in 2019 to Xinjiang. Reportedly staying on the ground just 24 hours there and being detained by police no less than three times during that short visit.

Now, CNN has reached out for comment, it has independently verified that money did in fact go from the IFC to these four Chinese companies, and they did use some of that money for their Xinjiang operations. The companies did not respond.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying China has repeatedly emphasized that the so-called issues of forced labor and repression against ethnic minorities are huge lies concocted by anti- China forces in the U.S. in the West, they're baseless. And goes on to say that attempts to attack and smear China are bound to fail.

The IFC did not respond to specific questions from CNN, it did say "We do not tolerate discrimination or forced labor under any circumstances" and added that it would work to verify and investigate serious allegations brought to their attention.

I might add that I have interviewed people Uyghurs who say they had been put in internment camps, and after months of terrible treatment been released, provided that they work in factories for almost no money under threat of being sent back into detention if they complain or refuse to work in these jobs.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This report was the result of a joint investigation by the Atlantic Council and a nonprofit research group known as NomoGaia, which focuses on business and human rights.

Joining us now from Denver, Colorado is Kendyl Salcito, Executive Director of NomoGaia. So, thank you for being with us, Kendyl. We appreciate your time.

KENDYL SALCITO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NOMOGAIA: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: OK, so just to follow up on the report we just heard from Ivan Watson, and the response we received from the IFC, a spokesman also told CNN that the corporation has "strong environment, social and governance standards that are diligently applied during the life of the investment and are considered a model for development finance worldwide".

He then added that the allegations of forced labor and discrimination will be urgently investigated. So, have you seen any indication that happened -- that is happening? And if this business model is considered to be a model for development finance world over, does that raise concerns that maybe this is just the tip of the iceberg?

SALCITO: The IFC does have a set of eight very clear performance standards that are supposed to ensure that investments are environmentally and socially responsible.

And when they were -- they were last updated in 2012, they were indeed a model for development banks worldwide.

Our research was just an inquiry into how four of IFC's direct investments in Xinjiang had met those performance standards. And we found that all four companies were at incredibly high risk of violating them in extremely risky investments in Xinjiang.

And our aim was to understand what we could glean from these operations using the performance standards as a lens and that they weren't applied was actually incredibly worrisome to us.

VAUSE: Well, these four companies that were receiving the funding, they called the Chenguang Biotech Group, which is an international manufacturer of agricultural products and herb extracts, I should say. Another one called the Camel Group which recycles car batteries for the largest car battery manufacturers in the world. Century Sunshine, which manufactures and develops ecological fertilizer. Jointown Pharmaceutical group, which claims to be the largest non-state owned pharmaceutical distribution company in China, and the third biggest overall.

So, when it comes to how this sort of pattern of abuse if you like was playing out, is there a similar thread, which is running through all of these companies in terms of forced labor and discrimination?

[00:25:05]

SALCITO: So yes, and no. We found that all four seems to be a very high risk of violating IFC standard on indigenous peoples because there was no way to get consent from weaker peoples pertaining to any of these investments.

But we found just incredibly severe violations of resettlement and land acquisition standards at Chenguang Bio where, essentially, the company is converting entire villages across regions into farms that only grow crops for Chenguang. No food crops, no small farms, they're all being agglomerated for Chenguang 's use.

Camel built a lead smelter directly atop an irrigation system that Uyghur has built in ancient times to irrigate traditional crops.

And Century Sunshine is they're all using forced labor. All four companies have confirmed cases of transferring labor but a top that there are these additional violations.

So essentially, Sunshine is build as an agricultural fertilizer company, but it's also a magnesium smelter and alloy producer. And that process is incredibly polluting and dangerous for workers and the Uyghur workers that are filmed in state propaganda have no respirators, have no face masks, have almost no protective gear at all.

So, the violations that we found really ran the gamut, including forced labor and labor transfers at every operation.

VAUSE: I'm wondering if you could sort of step back for a moment and explain how the report came about in the first place. Because in many ways, it seems like tracking down this kind of information would be like searching for a needle in a haystack unless you know where to look.

SALCITO: So, it wasn't actually that hard to find information. We used -- the companies often brag about their participation in these state poverty alleviation programs, which in some regions are poverty alleviation in Xinjiang. They're almost always coercive-- they're always coercive.

And I wasn't looking to investigate these industries, I was looking at IFC's implementation of its indigenous peoples standard, and I just happened across these investments.

And I flagged them for IFC back in November of 2020. And I said, I don't know how you can be investing here, but it looks incredibly dangerous. And they put forth --- they've been started looking into this but continued to invest. And that led me to want to understand further how they can justify that given the presence of the performance standards.

And once I had IFCs companies laid out, with the work of Laura Murphy and Nirala Illuma (PH), my coauthors. They are -- they're incredibly talented researchers of state propaganda and shipping records and media. And so, we could triangulate data sources among the three of us to really pin down these companies.

VAUSE: It seems like an incredible lot of work but work which is very valuable. So, thank you, and thank you for being with us.

SALCITO: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

VAUSE: You're welcome.

A landmark ruling by the E.U.'s top court has cleared the way for Brussels to withhold billions of euros in financial assistance to Poland and Hungary for violating Democratic rights and freedoms.

Right-wing governments in both countries have been accused of backsliding on democratic reforms in recent years, exerting excessive control over the judiciary, stifling media freedoms and denying LGBT rights.

Both countries are also major beneficiaries of E.U. subsidies. And after this ruling, those payments could be cut if the violations continue. The E.U. Commission welcomes the new leverage to enforce the European Union's declared values.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA SPINANT, E.U. COMMISSION SPOKESWOMAN: The president said very clearly that the court upholds the legality of this important tool that enables us to protect better the E.U. budget and the financial interests of the European Union against breaches of the principles of the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Hungary's Justice Minister slammed the E. U. ruling as a political decision, one which could impact the result of national elections there in April.

More rising troop numbers swell along Ukraine's border, American forces setting up camp in neighboring Poland. Their mission and movements, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:32:17]

HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, live in Lviv, Ukraine. Welcome back.

Now, despite Russian claims of a military pullback, a senior U.S. administration says Russia has actually added another 7,000 troops along Ukraine's border.

That official calling President Vladimir Putin's public openness to diplomacy a guise, accusing him of, quote, "privately mobilizing for war."

The Ukrainian government says that even if Russia has an estimated 150,000 troops luring nearby, that still isn't enough for a full-scale invasion, and it won't be enough to take and hold Kyiv.

Meanwhile, there are concerns about a new bridge being built in Belarus during joint exercises between Russian and Belarusian forces. Now, it's just a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border, and that would, of course, make it easier for Russian military to move from southern Belarus into Ukraine.

America's top diplomat with this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Unfortunately, there's a difference between Russia says and what it does. And what we're seeing is no meaningful pullback. On the contrary, we continue to see forces, especially forces that would be in the vanguard of any renewed aggression against Ukraine, continuing to -- to be at the border, and amass at the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now on the other side of Ukraine, in Poland, we're seeing significant numbers of American troops arriving.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): They don't really want you to see is, but it's hard to hide. These are U.S. troops landing near the Polish border with Ukraine.

Planes, Black Hawks, C-17 cargo planes, dozens in the past days. Media haven't been given official access, but they're pretty hard to miss. Trucks, pallets, signs these 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg are not here, an hour's drive from Ukraine just overnight.

They even came this day with a Cessna light aircraft, which seems to be innocently carrying top brass, who get onto a nearby helicopter. Moscow may point to these scenes as NATO amassing troops on Ukraine's border, but these are here with the approval of Poland, a NATO member.

(on camera): It's all about messaging. These American troops are about ensuring U.S. allies feel their presence.

(voice-over) The unit we saw decamped to a nearby conference center. They're here just in case, to help American citizens in Ukraine if the need arises. These sort of movements in NATO war games and drills have been practiced for years. They don't really want us to see this, the larger base where they are.

(on camera): The Americans over here. This is their main base, yes?

[00:35:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't talk about this.

WALSH: I understand. Can we talk to somebody about this, or --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

WALSH (voice-over): They walk right by us.

(on camera): Don't be afraid! It's all right.

(voice-over): On the size of the operation -- these are a lot of tents over a wide area -- is both what you might expect to support that many soldiers but also something that is almost definitely not for show and betrays a lot of readiness, even if you hope they all stay bored and cold under canvas in the weeks ahead.

The border with Ukraine an hour away, is normally busy. But Sasha is on his way back in, as his visa has run out.

"Ukraine is my country, and I have to stay," he says. "Yes, in the army, if need be, but no running away."

At another crossing, Ukrainians returning are pretty blunt.

"He won't be as far as Kyiv. We won't let him," one says. "We'll raise a resistance, fight him in the woods. It would be like Stalin. His own people will kill him."

Bravado running hot far far away from a front line that is still mostly cold.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Rzeszow, Poland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now the cyberattack that temporarily blocked access to a number of important Ukrainian websites on Tuesday. Well, that was the largest ever to hit Ukraine. That's according to a government minister.

He says it is too soon to know who was responsible. The so-called DDOS, or distributed denial of service attack, bombarded the websites of Ukrainian defense agencies and banks with phony traffic.

A top U.S. State Department official says the Kremlin is the likely culprit.

I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, the Ukraine. We'll have much more here from here in the next hour, but for now, let's toss it back to John Vause in Atlanta. JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Michael, thank you for that.

We will take a short break. When we come back, daily COVID infections surging in South Korea. Health officials warning cases could rise by more than 300 percent in the coming weeks. We are live in Seoul, in a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, more European countries are set to ease COVID restrictions. Officials have cautioned it does not mean the pandemic is over. Still, Austria will begin limited rollbacks on Saturday, but most restrictions will come to an end March 5, with no limits on social gatherings, full access to public occasions, no curfew.

In Germany, by March 20, German households will be allowed to gather if everyone is fully vaccinated or is recently recovered from COVID.

In the past week, much of Europe has seen COVID cases decline or hold steady, compared to the previous week.

South Korea, though, seeing a record number of new COVID cases, more than 90,000 daily infections for a second straight day. Health officials fear that number will continue to climb.

CNN's Paula Hancocks, live in Seoul for us this hour.

[00:40:04]

It's kind of unexplained here in a way, because the COVID infections are surging, while the number of critical cases are also rising but at a slower pace. And for now, it seems hospitals are coping.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And this is what health officials are pointing out at this point, that yes, there are a number of cases. The cases will rise. They estimate maybe 130,000 to 170,000 by the end of the month.

But the hospitals are coping, and the number of deaths has been kept relatively low.

So what we're actually expecting is some of these restrictions we have inside Korea to be eased on Friday.

Now we don't know for sure, but there will be a meeting with governments and health officials. The prime minister has already said that what they want to focus on now is the economy and minimizing the economic damage.

So there is a suggestion that things could get a little less restrictive here. There is still a seven-day quarantine when you come in, although the U.S. CDC has actually just advised Americans against coming to South Korea, unless they really need to, because of the state of COVID-19 here at the moment.

They also could potentially ease the curfew that you have here at the moment. Nine p.m. is when restaurants and other places have to shut down. There have been protests by those small restaurant owners, saying that it's simply crippling them at this point.

And it appears as though the government is listening. So even though we're seeing numbers here of daily cases that we've never seen before, close to 100,000 a day, which for South Korea is significant. It's all relative, of course. We could still see some of these restrictions easing.

And we're just a couple of weeks away, as well, from schools, Korean schools going back to a new term. And at this point, it looks as though it will all be in person. Officials want that to be the default position.

And they're actually giving the option to each school to decide, if you have a case, either spend that whole year home or just the people who sit close to that student. It's up to the individual school.

Contact tracing, as well, which was so stringent and so successful here, is being abandoned. Because they realize that with this kind of number of people having tested positive, it's simply impossible to try and track and trace everybody -- John.

VAUSE: Yes. We're also seeing a situation in Hong Kong where they're dealing with record numbers of new Omicron infections.

Those there, though, are taking a different approach. They're doubling down on zero-COVID policy, announcing some new members. What are they?

HANCOCKS: It's a very different approach to what we're seeing here. And what we're seeing with this insistence on zero COVID is that, still, everybody who tests positive has to go to a hospital or a facility. Even if you have mild symptoms.

And what we're seeing, at least in one hospital that CNN was filming ta, was you're seeing people on gurneys or stretchers, patients waiting outside, lined up in the hospital carpark, because there simply isn't enough capacity to be able to put everybody who's testing positive into some kind of hospital or facility.

Now they have eased slightly, ever so slightly on Sunday, saying that those close contacts or household members of a positive case don't have to go into a facility. They can actually quarantine at home.

But still, if he tests positive there, you'll have to leave your home and go into some kind of facility. Now we know that it was well over 4,000 yesterday that we're announced. We expect that number to be even higher today -- John.

VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks there, the very latest from the region from Seoul. We appreciate that. Thank you.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. WORLD SPORT with Patrick Snell is up after the break. And I'll see you again, with Michael Holmes in Ukraine, at the top of the hour. Thanks for watching.

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