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Russian Military Drills Fueling Invasion Fears; Ukraine says Separatist Shells Hit Luhansk Kindergarten; Eileen Gu Makes History En Route to Another Gold; Valieva Case Puts Russian Official Under Spotlight; Biden Warns of Russian Invasion in "Next Several Days"; S. Korea Tops 100K Cases as Business Curfew Slightly Eased; Hong Kong Doubling Down on Zero-COVID Strategy; More than 100 Dead, Hundreds Displaced in Massive Landslides; Climate Crisis Causing More Adverse Weather Worldwide; Company Wants to Build Massive Tech Center in Lviv, Ukraine. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 18, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:12]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Lviv in Ukraine, where shelling has put kindergarteners in the line of fire. We will take you to that school where kids narrowly escaped without injury.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, I'm Linda Kinkade live at CNN's World Headquarters here in Atlanta. I'll be bringing you all our other top stories, including the very latest on the Winter Olympic Games. You'll hear how 18 year old Eileen Gu just made Olympic history. We'll go live to Beijing.
HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden delivering perhaps his strongest warning yet that Russia could invade Ukraine within the next several days. Now, he's scheduled to host a call with world leaders in the days ahead to discuss the crisis.
Meanwhile, Russian military drills just a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine continue to rattle nerves all around the globe. Russia says some of the exercises have finished and its troops are returning to their home bases. But U.S. and NATO leaders remain skeptical of that.
Meanwhile, fighting flaring between Ukrainian forces and Russian backed separatists in eastern Ukraine give says that rebels shelled a kindergarten in the Luhansk region, injuring three people, fortunately, no kids. And the U.S. says it is just this kind of scenario that Moscow might use as a false flag operation to justify an invasion of Ukraine.
Key members of the Biden administration are in Europe, either pursuing diplomacy or mapping out military strategy. Vice President Kamala Harris leading the U.S. delegation at the Munich Security Conference scheduled to start in the hours ahead. And the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. sounding the alarm.
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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: The Russians have all of the forces on the ground that would suggest that they are prepared for the attack any day. Now when that attack will occur, I think only President Putin himself can answer that question. But we see everything that shows that the he is ready for such an attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN is converging this, covering this story with correspondents all around the globe. We're going to hear from Clarissa Ward in a bit who visited the front line in eastern Ukraine and went to that kindergarten. But first our Kaitlan Collins is at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden is delivering a blunt warning about an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: Every indication we have is they're prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.
COLLINS: As the Kremlin insists it's withdrawing troops from border areas. The White House is disputing that and says Russia is adding forces and could attack at any moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it your sense that this is going to happen now?
BIDEN: Yes. My sense is this will happen within the next several days.
COLLINS: Biden leaving the door open for a diplomatic resolution with a dose of reality.
BIDEN: There is a path. There is a way through this. I have no plans to call Putin right now.
COLLINS: Led by the president, U.S. officials came out one by one to make clear their concerns that Russia will invent an excuse to justify an invasion.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It could be a fabricated so called terrorist bombing inside Russia. The invented discovery of the mass grave, a stage drone strike against civilians, or a fake even a real attack using chemical weapons.
COLLINS: In abruptly scheduled remarks Secretary of State Blinken cast down on Russia's claimed pursuit of diplomacy and instead laid out in vivid detail what an attack could look like based on U.S. intelligence.
BLINKEN: Russian missiles and bombs will drop across Ukraine. Communications will be jammed. Cyber-attacks will shut down key Ukrainian institutions.
COLLINS: The Pentagon is still gathering details as Ukraine and Russia are blaming one another for an artillery strike on a kindergarten in northeast Ukraine.
GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. ARMY (RET.) DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've said for some time that the Russians might do something like this in order to justify a military conflict.
COLLINS: Defense Secretary Austin warning that despite talk of de- escalation, Russia is only moving forces closer to Ukraine's border.
AUSTIN: We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood support supplies.
COLLINS: With diplomacy already on thin ice the State Department is revealing that the number two with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was expelled last month which a spokesperson called an escalatory step by Russia in the same room where then Secretary of State Colin Powell made the case for invading Iraq in 2003, the nation's top diplomat today address skepticism of U.S. intelligence.
[01:05:22]
BLINKEN: Some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out. But let me be clear, I am here today not to start a war but to prevent one.
COLLINS (on camera): Secretary Blinken headed for Munich where he is going to the security conference that Vice President Harris is also attending with other U.S. and European leaders and Secretary Blinken said that before he left, he did extend an invitation to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a potential meeting going forward once again to talk about these issues where the two sides are very much divided. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- kindergarten is less than three miles from the so called line of contact the front line. And witnesses in this area said that around eight or nine o'clock this morning, they started to hear shelling, it was loud enough that they could hear the whistle of the shells going by and two of them landed here at this kindergarten. Let's take a look.
So she's saying that the children fortunately, were over there having their breakfast and playing. If they had been in that room there, this could be a very different story.
So this is where the Ukrainian military says that one of those artillery shells hit. And you can see this is a room where children will be playing every day. It happened that this morning, there were no kids in this room at the time of impact. But three people who work in the school in the kindergarten, I should say are now being treated according to local authorities for concussions.
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HOLMES: And joining me now from Los Angeles, Robert English, is the Director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California.
Good to see you again, sir. Given the shelling, which hit that kindergarten in the east of the country coming from the separatists side, what do you make of it, just another ceasefire violation or perhaps a shift in tactical focus by the Russians?
ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES, USC: We can't know. But even another ceasefire violation, or a sporadic incident at this level of tension and armament could spiral into a major conflagration, right? So what's gone on for years, occasional shelling reprisals in this situation could be deadly. So even if it's not an intentional launch of an invasion, it could spark a major incursion accidentally.
HOLMES: Yeah, and if Russia does turn its attention to the Donbass, the thing is, the West has made no distinction between a full invasion by Russia or a smaller incursion in a place like the Donbass, both would trigger the sanctions which have been threatened. Do you think Mr. Putin would risk a move on the Donbass?
ENGLISH: I don't think it's likely he'll risk anything of a magnitude that would trigger those sanctions, right? Meaning it would involve significant loss of life major violence. But there's a political instead of a military move in Putin's deck right now, and that is for Russia to recognize as independent, the breakaway Donbass and Luhansk regions in Ukraine's east. So far, Russia has not done that. If Russia were to do that, it would be a purely political diplomatic move. But it would obviously escalate things politically. And Russia would be saying we've given up on any kind of negotiations, we are now going to create essentially a friendly buffer zone, a proto state that's dependent on us, because we can rely on them, at least to shield us from NATO advancing into Ukraine. That would be very difficult for the West, would that trigger sanctions?
HOLMES: Yeah, yeah, well, they say it would, they mean incursion would, but you're right, we'll have to see. If they did do that. That'd be the end of the Minsk agreement. And there's a lot of talk on both sides about using the Minsk agreements as a basis for resolution.
But I want to get your thoughts on that, though, because most of the points agreed to in the Minsk documents have not haven't been implemented or they've been violated. There's been major dispute on interpretation. Why is there still faith in this by both sides?
ENGLISH: You know, I see it slightly differently. Very few have paid any attention to Minsk, except for a few specialized diplomats for years. The Russian side is frustrated that NATO's -- the NATO countries supporting Ukraine have not pushed the Ukrainians to fulfill their part of Minsk, which is to grant some reasonable autonomy, some local self-rule to the ethnic Russian communities in the east, for their part, the Russians haven't fulfilled their requirement to withdraw, restore the integrity of the border.
[01:10:23]
And I'm encouraged now that Chancellor Scholz on his visit, right to Moscow, other European diplomats, maybe not American, so much, are now talking about, yeah, we have to revisit Minsk. Maybe if we could make progress on that simple compromise, it would defuse the rest. So even though things look really bad right now, and extremely dangerous, they are I see a ray of hope in the willingness to reengage on Minsk. It's not that complicated.
HOLMES: Yeah. Well, yeah, although both sides see it differently on key points and interpretation is everything and could be the stumbling block. I wanted to ask you too, about, you know, the Russians making claims of aggressions even atrocities Putin going so far as to claim genocide in the Donbass and the U.S. strategy, highly unusual warning of things like false flag attacks, putting out declassified information. Now, what is your view of the propaganda war in all of this in strategic terms?
ENGLISH: I think you answered it right there, it is a propaganda war. Both sides are trying to wrongfoot the other, keep the other off balance on the defensive, right? Russia now has to defend continually against charges that it's preparing this, that or the other. And for their part, the Russians are accusing the Ukrainians, or maybe even the Americans of preparing things that we deny that we're doing. It's brinksmanship. It's heightening, right, the tension and the pressure on each side as we step up to that edge.
I'm still hopeful, I know that there'll be another round of discussion between Secretary Blinken and Lavrov in a couple of days may be sooner, the door is still open, but both sides are neither wants to blink, right? This is a game of chicken. It's a little bit reminiscent of the Cuban missile crisis not quite as nuclearized but neither side wants to be the first to back down both want to claim victory.
HOLMES: Important points well made. Good to see you again, Robert English in Los Angeles there, I appreciate it.
ENGLISH: Thank you.
HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. I will be back with more at the bottom of the hour. Right now, though, let's send it back to Atlanta where Linda Kinkade is -- has latest on the Olympics in the day's other stories.
KINKADE: Thank you so much, Michael. Good to have you there.
Well, still ahead, we are entering the final days of the Beijing Olympics. There is still plenty of competition left out these Winter Games, the events to watch, coming up next.
Diversity around a young Russian figure skater is now putting adults under the spotlight.
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[01:15:20]
KINKADE: Welcome back after days of uncertainty, we now know the Olympic medal ceremony for the women's figure skating competition will go ahead after all. The event would have been canceled how the Russian skater at the center of a doping scandal ended up on the podium. The 15 year old Kamila Valieva fell multiple times during her performance on Thursday, finishing fourth.
Meanwhile, Eileen Gu has become the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single Olympic Games. The U.S. won superstar who's competing for China earned gold and the women's halfpipe adding to her gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.
We are covering the games from every angle here at CNN. Steven Jiang is live for us in Beijing. But first let's really well sports Patrick Snell here in Atlanta and what an incredible outcome for the American born Chinese superstar Eileen Gu.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, just incredible. Hi there, Linda, great to be on with you. As she said afterwards, it's changed my life forever. Eileen Gu, you know, an Olympics to remember no question about that. The 18 year old also making her own very special piece of history on this Friday. What a story Gu has proved to be. She's now the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single Olympics. Earlier on this day showing all of her class, her dominance, just the flashy has to make it look all so easy. It earned her gold as well in the women's halfpipe event. Adding to a gold as well and the big ash, he got silver in the slopestyle. You know, her second run today seeing her soar to new heights quite literally actually scored 95.25 the team dropping to her knees in celebration before her third and final round, which was actually pretty much a victory lap down the pipe. Wonderful performance.
Canada's Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker second and third, respectively, with Eileen Gu. These throughout the games on so many levels at Beijing.
Meantime, do want to get to this, the American superstar skier Mikaela Shiffrin, Meantime, she's having to hit back at her social media critics this Friday after what was another challenging day for on the slopes yesterday, the 26 year old failing to finish for the third time at these winter games afterwards saying she felt like a joke. Shiffrin, a two time Olympic gold medalist crashing out of the Alpine combined event and it now means that really surprisingly, she suffered 60% of her career did not finish is at this game. She's already failed to finish in her favorite disciplines, namely the slalom and the giant slalom.
Huge disappointment for Mikaela Shiffrin. But really sad to report that she has had to endure a torrent of toxic abuse, another way they put it, Linda, this was on social media across the last few days on Instagram though Shiffrin, look at this, sharing some of the phrases that have been sent her way would like choker, arrogant disgrace but she hits back very, very powerfully indeed. So by her own social media. Well, kids, feed him what you want to feed em. Self-pity, sadness. Let the turkeys get you down. There will always be turkeys or get up again. Again, again, again, again, again, again. Get up because you can, because you like what you do when it's not infested with the people who have so much apparent hate for you. just get up.
Powerful words there from Mikaela Shiffrin but really disappointing to see once again, being subjected to that abuse via social media. Linda, back to you.
KINKADE: Yeah, wonderful response from her, but just a shame that she had a couple of that. Thanks, Patrick.
I want to bring in Steven, because it really was a crushing performance. So the 15 year old Russian Skater Kamila Valieva, wasn't it?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Linda was so painful and a heartbreaking to watch her compete on Thursday night. Not only she fell on the ice multiple times, as you mentioned, she seemed to fail to execute any of her jumps with the kind of perfection we saw just a little over a week ago at the team event.
Now, the dark cloud of doping allegations seem to be hanging over not just above her, but her teammates as well, even though two of them won gold and silver. But there was just so much tension, drama and a lot of tears, not necessarily tear of joy at the event.
Now, Thomas Bach, the IOC President held a press conference just a few hours ago, he said how disturbed he felt watching Valieva compete, and how much mental distress she seemed to be under. But he said he was even more upset by seeing the kind of treatment she received from the adults on the Russian team after the event. Here's what Bach said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS BACH, PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: When I afterward saw how she was received by her closest entourage with such a what appear to be a tremendous coldness. You -- it was chilling to see this rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her. You could feel this chilling atmosphere.
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[01:20:35]
JIANG: Now, like many others, Bach is now training his focus on the adults surrounding Valieva. Who are indeed being investigated for their role in a doping allegations?
Now, Bach actually has also pointed out doping rarely happens alone by athletes. It usually involves their entourage. He also made a point of saying how he had heard or seen so many lies and excuses about doping over the years, which of course is interesting because the Court of Arbitration for Sport just released a summary of its hearing last week saying how the claims made by the adults around her was not really backed by any concrete evidence. So Linda, the saga is far from over. Now, even the IOC itself under growing scrutiny with some critics saying, it's been giving the Russians a pass for too long, Linda.
KINKADE: Yeah, it certainly seems that way, some strong words there from the IOC President. Steven Jiang for us in Beijing. Patrick Snell for us here in Atlanta, thanks to you, both.
Well, the scandals surrounding Valieva is hardly coming out of the blue. As we just heard, Russia has a history of state sponsored doping, which is why its team is not allowed to compete under the Russian flag in Beijing. And as Selina Wang reports, the officials who work with Valieva are now coming under scrutiny.
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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Global outrage over Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, under the microscope for testing positive for a banned substance less than two months ago, but she's just a child, 15 years old, often seen clutching her favorite stuffed animal. It puts a spotlight on the adults around her and the alleged dark underworld of Russian figure skating beneath the glittering surface.
DENIS OSWALD, IOC HEAD OF DISCIPLINE: The girl of 15 would not do something wrong alone.
WANG: The world anti-doping agency will be investigating her entourage. And at the center is coach Eteri Tutberidze, the powerful woman behind Russia's dominance and figure skating, infamous for her brutal training regimens.
This December interview, Tutberidze said her skaters trained 12 hours a day, saying they can "always do more, demand more from yourself."
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, Tutberidze has defended a similar drug, meldonium as harmless, but it's banned by the world anti-doping agency. She said in a 2019 TV interview that it just "helps the heart muscles recover faster." Earlier this week, she told Russian state TV, "we are absolutely sure that Kamila is innocent and clean."
JIM WALDEN, LAWYER FOR WHISTLEBLOWER GRIGORY RODCHENKOV: It's heart wrenching, right, to take this -- to take an example of this young, really talented skater, who's clearly worked really hard. The problem is that's not ever good enough for Russia.
WANG: Jim Walden is the lawyer for Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian doping whistleblower. He says another close adult to Valieva is Filipp Shvetsky, the figure skating team doctor who is punished in 2007 for doping violations on Russia's rowing team. It's from this Sambo-70 sports Club in Moscow, where Tutberidze produced a string of Olympic medalists.
Russian figure skater-turned-coach Anna Pogorilaya briefly trained with a Eteri at Sambo-70. ANNA POGORILAYA, RUSSIAN FIGURE SKATER-TURNED-COACH (through translation): She's an iron lady. She's so dedicated to her vocation. For her every athlete just like her own child.
WANG (on camera): Do you think she would pressure her skaters to take performance enhancing drugs?
POGORILAYA (through translation): I'm 100% sure they're clean.
WANG: But her best protegees had short lived careers. Take Yulia Lipnitskaya who won gold in Sochi, retired at 19 suffering from anorexia and injuries. Evgenia Medvedeva took him silver at 18, then stopped skating competitively a few years later, citing permanent back injuries. All of them coached by coached by Tutberidze.
KIIRA KORPI, FINNISH FIGURE SKATER: The problem is that child abuse is so normalized in our sport, emotional abuse, psychological abuse is one big part of it.
WANG: Reaching the pinnacle in any sport comes at a cost. The question is if the Russian skating world has gone too far. Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, still to come in CNN Newsroom, COVID cases a hammering Hong Kong just by a strict measures with a growing outbreak means for the city is zero COVID strategy.
[01:25:00]
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HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live in Lviv in Western Ukraine where we are covering the heightened risk of war in the region.
Now, on Thursday strong warnings from both the U.S. president and his top diplomat who say they believe the Russian forces mass along Ukraine's borders could launch an attack within the next few days.
Antony Blinken telling the U.N. Security Council that intelligence indicates Moscow is trying to manufacture a reason for an invasion, but that he hopes the Kremlin will ditch that plan while there is still time.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden preparing to discuss the crisis in the coming hours with key allies, among them leaders of Germany, Britain, the E.U. and NATO.
The Pentagon says in just a few days, Russia has been adding to its already massive buildup of troops, Russia denying that and has been claiming all week that it is moving some of its forces back to their bases and away from Ukraine's borders. And it blames the U.S. for causing the situation to reach fever pitch less.
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SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): Our military have orderly can't on their own territory, held drills, took down their tents, boarded the trains, loaded their hardware and started leaving. But the starks are still going on. This is where the escalation in those particular action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, joining me now from Milan in Italy, Mykhailo Minakov is a senior adviser on Ukraine at the Kennan Institute. He's also editor in chief of the focus Ukraine blog. Great to have you with us.
Now, you know, of course this has been building for months now. What do you make of Putin's tactics over time how they changed? Is this part of a grand plan or do you think the West has made him change course along the way?
MYKHAILO MINAKOV, SENIOR ADVISER ON UKRAINE, KENNAN INSTITUTE: Thank you for invitation, Michael. And yes, the situation is quite dire in in Ukraine right now. However, this massive campaign that was launched since the end of October last year, seems to have been kept Kremlin from active, as they call it, active measures on the border with Ukraine.
At the same time, there's a pretty solid group of troops on the border from the north to the south or around Ukraine. Ukrainian army is also stationed in a bigger number, getting ready to resist and defend the country. And what is troubling is that so far, all these plans seem to play or misused by the Kremlin for their case.
[01:30:00]
If you look in the last few months, there were several dates named by the Western media, Western experts and diplomats, so it was the 24th of December. There was a 1st of January up until the 16th of February. And the 16th of February it was like a peak for Ukrainian population living under stress, on the threat from Russia from the ongoing war in Donbass but also from this massive media campaign.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
MINAKOV: For my compatriots were in a very difficult situation.
HOLMES: Right, right.
MINAKOV: And here, they --
HOLMES: Vladimir Putin -- sorry, I was just going to ask you, Vladimir Putin, clearly, wants Ukraine to give up the whole idea of NATO membership. Of course, it's enshrined in the Constitution, but do you think they would come a time when Ukraine would contemplate that, just say, OK, we won't join and tight that part of the pressure off?
MINAKOV: Well, several days ago, there was a probe on behalf of current administration, how the population would react on dropping of the idea of NATO membership, and it was rather scandalous. According to recent polls, the Ukrainian population is now -- has the highest percentage of people, of the population, much about than 50 percent, supporting the idea of NATO membership.
However, yes, the - the very idea, the wish to become a member in the NATO, creates this additional pressure from Russia. The Minsk agreements, the way they are constructed, they are fulfilled, the membership in both, NATO and the EU is not possible since the part of Ukraine, these autonomous republics would be able to block, to veto any possible ideas of moving further Westward's.
HOLMES: Yes. I was going to ask you, in terms of, you know, destabilizing Ukraine, damaging its economy, undermining social stability, all things that Russia is doing, or trying to do. How successful has Russia been in that regard? Is damage being done without firing a shot?
MINAKOV: Well, so far, it looks like that. According to the Ukrainian president, and Ukrainian economists, during this campaign - the media campaign in November, and December, and January, Ukraine was losing at least about $2 to $3 billion a month. For Ukraine, which has an economy is a little bit more than $500 billion dollars, it is already a lot. It was like more than a percent, closer to 2 percent of our economy, just because of the threat, and these troubles, and the sensations that Ukrainian population has.
So yes, without making a shot so far, there was a damage for the economy. But at the same time, there was definitely unity around the flag of Ukrainian side. This 16th of February was National Unity Day, and you could feel that even not only rank and file citizens were feeling the solidarity, but even oligarchs were returning to Ukraine from their exile. They were running away on the 13th of February.
HOLMES: Yes.
MINAKOV: So, as for national unity, reached out, achieved.
HOLMES: We are almost out of time. So briefly, if you can, there is a lot of talk about the Minsk agreement being the foundation for any settlement. What are the chances of that agreement being enforced, when it has not until now, constant violations, and Ukraine is no fan of Russia's interpretations of it, is it still a basis for a solution?
MINAKOV: Well, it is - I must admit that Minsk agreements, seven years ago were a tool to stop the active war and movement of Russian troops and Russia backed separatists close to Kyiv. However, as an agreement that could establish a stable peace, it is not. It is not a tool for peace. It is more a tool for capitulation.
So right now, there's enormous measures, pressures are done on all sides, from Kyiv, to Moscow, to Brussels, and to Washington, who review and find a more viable version of the Minsk agreements. However, if any side of the Minsk agreement would denounce them, the full-pledged work must probably, would return.
[01:35:00]
HOLMES: Right, right. Mykhailo Minakov, I wish we had more time, we do not, there in Milan, Italy, appreciate you. Thank you.
MINAKOV: Thank you.
HOLMES: And that is all from us here in Ukraine for now. We will be back in a bit.
For now, Lynda, back to you in Atlanta.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, Michael.
Where daily COVID cases, in South Korea, topped 100,000 new infections for the first time during the Omicron outbreak. It comes just as the country announced a slight easing of restrictions. Officials say, businesses will be allowed to stay open an extra hour until 10:00 p.m. Deaths have remained relatively low in the highly vaccinated country. And those with few, or no symptoms, are being treated at home, rather than in health care facilities.
COVID infections in Hong Kong, are soaring with thousands of new cases reported every day. Chief executive Carrie Lam says the government is considering citywide testing to keep the spread and check. Surge measures are already in place, as part of, their zero-COVID strategy.
And as CNN's Ivan Watson reports, it's closing many to struggle with paying their bills.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hong Kong's COVID bubble has finally burst. Just look at this line for COVID test. Testing capacity, clearly overwhelmed. For most of the last two years, the city managed to keep the virus out through some of the world's harshest quarantines and travel restrictions. But now authorities are counting thousands of preliminary positive infections a day.
And yet the Hong Kong government and the Chinese central government they're both doubling down on what they call a dynamic zero strategy. They want to completely eliminate the virus from this community.
Critics argue that genie is already out of the bottle. Most of the new infections are identified as the highly contagious Omicron variant. But more than two years into the pandemic, the Hong Kong government is once again locking down large sectors of society, like public playgrounds, kids cannot use those swings and they are also prohibited from in-person learning in all schools, family gatherings of more than two families at a time, banned.
Restaurants have to close after 6:00 p.m. Gyms, beauty salons, tattoo studios, all of those have been prohibited from working for weeks. The Hong Kong government says it's paying subsidies to help keep businesses afloat. But anecdotally, I'm talking to some small business owners who say it's not enough. And they're resorting to working underground illegally to help pay Hong Kong's famously high rents and keep food on the table.
One of the most dramatic transformations, Hong Kong has largely cut itself off from the outside world. Only residents are allowed in and they face long expensive quarantines. The result, in 2019, this airport handled more than 71 million passengers. In 2021, that number plunged to just 1.4 million passengers. The land boundary to Mainland China also remains mostly closed. Surveys show business confidence is down and some people are voting with their feet.
According to government statistics, in 2020, in the first half of 2021, more than 160,000 residents emigrated and with no end to the restrictions in sight, that trend is unlikely to change.
WATSON: Hong Kong once marketed itself as Asia's world city. Today, it's one of the most isolated places in the world. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Canadian police appeared to be targeting the leaders of the so-called Freedom Convoy, which for almost three weeks now has paralyzed the Canadian capital, in protest of pandemic restrictions. According to her lawyer, Tamara Lich, considered the public face of the protest, was arrested in Ottawa, along with another key organizer, Chris Barber. Both are facing multiple charges, including counseling to commit mischief, and obstruction related to the protests, and fundraising. The arrests happened as dozens of officers swept through the protest area on Parliament Hill, while the interim police chief, had this warning for demonstrators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BELL, OTTAWA INTERIM POLICE CHIEF: In the past few days, we have been communicating directly with the unlawful protesters. We've told them they must leave, and we have warned them the consequences of disobeying these rules. We want to end this unlawful protest peacefully and safely. We want to prepare. We are prepared to employ lawful techniques to remove the unlawful protesters from our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:40:04]
KINKADE: Police also erected barriers, and fences to seal off the protest site. Three separate protests along the U.S.-Canada border ended this week.
The death toll is climbing after massive landslides in Brazil. And now, the frantic search for survivors is in a race against time. We'll speak to some who made it out alive, straight ahead.
Plus, just days after storm Dudley battered parts of the U.K., another dangerous system is approaching. We'll go to CNN Weather for more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KINKADE: We've got some news just in to us. Passengers have been evacuated from a cruise ship, off the coast of Greece, after a fire broke out on board. The Euroferry Olympia was carrying 237 passengers, 51 crew members, and headed to Italy, from a port in Western Greece. The passengers have been evacuated and now are said to be safe. We will bring you more details as soon as they are available.
Once again, a fire on a cruise ship, off the coast of Greece. The passengers have been evacuated. They are safe. Stay with us for more as this story develops.
Rescue operations are underway in Brazil after deadly landslides north of Rio de Janeiro. At least 110 people have died, more than 100 others are still missing after heavy rains battered the area.
CNN's Shasta Darlington has the story.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pulling, the sifting, the digging. The race continues in Brazil, to try and find survivors after heavy rainfall caused flooding and landslides in the city of Petropolis, a mountainous region of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state.
Scores are dead, and many are missing, as streets were washed away, and homes buried. Officials say a month's worth of rain fell across the city in just hours.
There are fears the death toll could continue to climb, as firefighters and volunteer rescue workers use backhoes and heavy equipment to dig through the rubble.
Rio de Janeiro's governor compared the destruction to a war zone but vowed every effort will be made to find survivors.
GOV. CLAUDIO CASTRO, RIO DE JANEIRO (through translator): The teams work 24 hours a day. They will not stop the search at all. It will continue, unless, for technical reasons, it has to stop for one or two hours. But if everything goes normal, we won't stop at all.
DARLINGTON: Drone footage shows the massive scale of the damage, as the landslides destroyed everything in their path.
Two hundred and sixty-nine landslides were recorded Tuesday, according to Brazil's civil defense secretariat. Many residents picked up what personal belongings they could salvage from what's left of the hillside neighborhood of Alto da Serra, one of the areas hardest hit. Others comfort each other, as they take in the magnitude of what was once their livelihood. One man searched all night for members of his family.
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JOSE CARLOS PAIVA, PETROPOLIS RESIDENT (through translator): Today, I am removing bodies. I removed my mother's body. Yesterday, I rescued my son, rescued neighbors, and took them to the emergency room. My son is fine. He's in the hospital, but he's fine. I managed to get him out alive, despite the mud.
DARLINGTON: A local church has opened its doors, offering victims shelter, food, and clothing. Small comfort to those who have lost so much.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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KINKADE: Joining me now is Natalie Unterstell. She is president of Talanoa, a think tank dedicated to climate change policy. And she joins us now from Rio de Janeiro. Good to have you with us.
NATALIE UNTERSTELL, PRESIDENT, TALANOA: Thank you, Lynda. Good to be with you.
KINKADE: Our heart goes out to those impacted by this tragedy. The rainfall Tuesday afternoon, as you know was more than a historical average for the entire month of February. That's according to the Civil Defense of Rio de Janeiro. This is highly unusual, but extreme weather events like this are becoming more common, right?
UNTERSTELL: Yes. This is not unusual. February are normally - is normally a rainy month in the region. But still due to climate change as well as other phenomenal like La Nina, we are experiencing a much heavier rainfall during this summer here in Brazil. And particularly, and in this area where this tragedy is happening, we're talking about a mountainous area, so there are specific conditions there that make even more prone to this kind of events.
And it's at the same time important to mention that this specific event was predicted. The landslides have been predicted. Authorities were notified by the scientists about it, still people have not been evacuated in time.
KINKADE: Yes.
UNTERSTELL: And it should have been. And that's why the tragedy is - is now just getting worse and worse.
KINKADE: Yes. That is why we are seeing that death toll rise. These torrential rains were the heaviest since 1952. And in recent years the city, Petropolis, has rapidly grown as residents have moved in, clearing forests that once acted as a buffer against mudslides like this. How much of a role has that played?
UNTERSTELL: A very important role. We are talking about 300,000 people living in this area, and about 20 percent of them being residents of areas that are at high risk of landslides. So it's a significant amount of people at risk, normally the poorest ones. And as I mentioned, the authorities are well aware of the problem. And I should also mention, there are resources, there is a budget to deal with the issue and a preventative manner. But still, this has not been done. So it is really a matter of capacity of building capacity and making the hard decisions about moving people out of the areas that are no longer safe for them to live.
KINKADE: And Natalie, you also worked on the first national adaptation plan, which involved negotiations of loss and damage at the U.N., framework convention on climate change. This issue of climate change cannot be solved by one nation. What can be adopted internationally that would have a major impact to slow the effects of climate change, and what can be done now?
UNTERSTELL: We are talking about displacing people, and we are talking about new sorts of climate refugees in a sense. And that is an issue that will cross the borders. Probably not in this case, we are talking about right now, Petropolis, but other cases are, you know, relevant in the sense that international community will have to deal with cross border issues. So this is one area where we need international attention. We need laws and we need a support.
But moreover, infrastructure is the big thing. And when we were working here in Brazil, sometime ago to really climate improve the infrastructure. We were looking at that, we were trying to attract investments and to talk to people from abroad about how do we build infrastructure for this warmer climate and less stable climate?
And I think that is an area where the international community needs to make a lot of progress. Today, we do not have resources enough internationally available, especially for these developed countries to work on their own adaptation plans and their own adaptation investments.
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So this is an area where we need much more to be done. And I think it is a matter that will affect all nations and there needs some sort of coordination at the U.N. level.
KINKADE: Exactly. Huge, huge, challenge.
Natalie Unterstell, good to get your perspective. Thank you so much for joining us.
UNTERSTELL: Thank you, Lynda.
KINKADE: Well repair crews are harder to work in the U.K. trying to fix the damage from the powerful storm Dudley. It hit Wednesday, taking down trees, and knocking out electricity, to thousands of homes and businesses. Dudley also brought flooding and disrupted road and railway traffic. Well, the U.K. is now bracing for another storm, a rare danger to life alert was issued as storm Eunice targets the region.
Joining me now is meteorologist Derek Van Dam. Derek, just explain what can we expect?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I mean can you believe that we are talking about a powerful windstorm in the space of two days here impacting the United Kingdom and much of Europe. This was storm Dudley. You are looking at some of the impressive waves along the coast of Wales, in the southwestern portions of the U.K. and now we're looking and facing storm Eunice which is our next monster per se that is approaching the U.K. rapidly.
In fact, conditions are going to deteriorate here from now, through the next 12 hours across Wales into England and much of Scotland as well. In fact, a rare red warning, as you mentioned, from the U.K. Met service, issued for portions of Wales and into southern England.
You have to go back of March of 2018 to actually experience the last wind red alert from the U.K. Met service. Fallen trees, power outages, road closures, and travel disruptions, all likely with this storm moving through the United Kingdom.
How windy will it get? Well, we can take you through a timeline this morning. Look at this from Plymouth to London, we are anticipating wind gusts to exceed 100 kilometers per hour. That is equivalent to a Category 1 Atlantic hurricane.
So will the impacts be the same? Well yes, certainly, with the potential of bringing some structural damage, and taking down trees and electrical poles as well. This will be a major disruptor to this particular area, with very windy event taking place with storm Eunice moving through.
Now with Dudley, that pressed on Wednesday and Thursday, coastal areas of France into Denmark, we had wind gusts in excess of 100 kilometers as well. And this was some of the results. We had huge waves battering the coastal areas of the U.K. And while the active pattern continues here over the next several days.
Lynda, it's just an impressive storm track for this particular area, and there is still next 12 hours before this storm system really exits the United Kingdom.
KINKADE: Yes, plenty of trains suspended, flights canceled. People being told to stay home.
VAN DAM: Right.
KINKADE: We will check in with you again soon. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.
We want to head back to Lviv now and Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: All right. Lynda, thank you so much. We will see you again at the top of the hour. But first, a Ukrainian tech company has a vision for the future. And thinks it will boost the entire region, we will explain when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. Well as the world watches the simmering tensions on the border between Russia and Ukraine, one tech company is looking past the possibility of conflict and focusing on what they want to build.
CNN's Erin Burnett explains.
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ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As the power of Russia's military enters closer to Ukraine, many feared the first major strike will be digital.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Cyberattacks will shut down key Ukrainian institutions.
BURNETT: In fact, we've already seen the largest cyberattack ever on Ukrainian banks and defense websites. But online may also be the field of a Ukrainian victory.
BURNETT (on camera): I'm standing in the middle of an overgrown field. You can see the debris all around me. Look, there's trash pretty much everywhere you look. But people here have a dream of transforming this place. They want to basically turn it into a tech city where 10,000 people will work. There will be hotels, kindergarten, sports fields, sort of a full-service mini city right here in the center of Lviv. And if they succeed, it'll transform this country.
BURNETT (voice-over): Transformed from this to this. Because right now, Ukraine's path to NATO in the West, is blocked not just by Russia, but by its own oligarchs. The richest man here, Rinat Akhmetov controls a media group with some of Ukraine's top-rated television channels. Igor Kolomoisky controls 1 + 1 Media.
Where President Zelensky starred in the TV comedy series. They have the billions, but it's people like Vitaly Sedler, who founded his tech company Intellias 20 years ago here in Lviv, who say they can fend off the oligarchs because they trade in something way more valuable than steel and iron ore.
VITADLY SEDLER, CEO, INTELLIAS: You cannot really hijack a company who cannot take it, right? Because the value of the company is in the people and in the knowledge. You cannot just --
BURNETT (on camera): No one can take that.
SEDLER: You don't take this like you take factory or something.
BURNETT (voice-over): Intellias engineers like these developed software, including navigation systems for luxury German cars. Sedler says his company is on track to grow at least 60 percent this year. He insists he isn't changing growth plans yet because of the Russian crisis.
SEDLER: We're building a very strong middle class in the country and I believe that as time goes, the middle class have more and more political power over what's happening in the country. And this is very good development for the country. So I am very excited about the business.
BURNETT: Excited about these men and women may be the future of Ukraine.
Erin Burnett, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
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HOLMES: And live from Lviv, I'm Michael Holmes. I will be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after the break.
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