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CNN Team, Ukrainian Minister Come Under Mortar Fire; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Asks Europe And NATO For Security Guarantees At Munich Security Conference; Russia Is Tightening Its Military Grip Around Ukraine; Olympic Winter Games Final Day; Hong Kong Steps Up Efforts To Contain COVID-19; Synthetic Opioid Overdose Deaths Rise During Pandemic; Northwest Europe Dealing With Aftermath Of Powerful Storm Eunice; New Storm Emerging In Western U.S. Aired 4- 5a ET
Aired February 20, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, live at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv in western Ukraine. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM:
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Russia further invades your country, we will impose swift and severe economic sanctions.
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HOLMES (voice-over): As Russia amasses an army around Ukraine, the U.S. vice president warning of major consequences if the Kremlin invades.
BRUNHUBER: Plus, while the U.S. and other parts of the world start relaxing COVID restrictions, Hong Kong is being overwhelmed by staggering new COVID cases.
And the Beijing Winter Olympics wrap up in just hours. American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin had her dreams of winning another medal dashed.
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone. We begin here in Ukraine, where the standoff with Russia shows no signs of easing. President Biden is set to discuss the crisis with his National Security Council in the coming hours.
All of these as Western leaders make an 11th hour push for diplomacy. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with Ukraine's President Zelensky on Saturday. That came ahead of a phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Zelensky also addressing the crisis with other world leaders at the Munich Security Conference this weekend.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Faster. Go, go, go.
HOLMES (voice-over): On the front lines, though, no sign tensions are cooling. A CNN team, on tour with Ukraine's interior minister, coming under mortar fire on Saturday, the latest example of escalating cease- fire violations in Eastern Ukraine. And some in the West warn, the worst could soon come.
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LIZ TRUSS, U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES: There are many people who would want to think hopefully about the situation. But I think we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. And that worst-case scenario could happen as early as next week.
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HOLMES: A similar sentiment echoed by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who told ABC News he does not believe Putin is bluffing.
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GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's a number of options available to him. And he could -- he could attack in short order. And I don't believe it's a bluff. I think it's a -- I think he's assembled the right kinds of things that you would need to conduct a successful invasion.
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HOLMES: Now as we just mentioned, the Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky, attended the munch Security Conference and while there sat down with CNN's Christiane Amanpour for a wide-ranging interview. She asked him why he decided to leave his country at such a vulnerable time.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm not sure how many people in this room expected you to make the decision to leave your country and come here today.
What was so important for you to be here?
And what do you know about Vladimir Putin's intentions that, perhaps, the United States or others don't know?
Because they think he has made the decision to enter your country.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Thank you very much. Thank you for this question. And thank you for your -- for the invitation.
It is very important, when Ukraine is being discussed, for Ukraine, for these -- for this information to come from the mouth of our country.
I'm the president. And our team, it's important for all our partners and friends not to agree about anything behind our back.
And I do believe in our partnership. And I do believe that this is the case. The fact that the partners are sharing with us the information, we are very grateful for that, by the way, for the cooperation of our intelligences.
But we are in this tension for many, many years now. We do not think that we need to panic. We think these risks are indeed very high because we have more troops, 150,000 troops on our borders.
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ZELENSKY (through translator): Yes, indeed, that's a big risk but a very big risk if we respond, if we do respond to one provocation or the other.
On the other hand, I think the Russian Federation and when we are talking about Russia this is the people, the whole people of Russia. So I think they will not be able to start to go to war against Ukraine.
And although on the temporary occupied territories we have a lot provocations and we see them, we see this through the mass media there disseminating different, provocative information, we need to preserve our stability, we need to keep calm and be adults.
This -- from this, in these terms, Ukraine army is more adult than others.
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HOLMES: Well, joining me now here live in Lviv is Michael Bociurkiw, he's a global affairs analyst and also a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council.
Good to have you here on set with us to talk about this. Before we get going, I mean, it's an important day. Ukraine has been at war for eight years. And that was sort of precipitated by the events in the Maidan, which I was at. So it's a significant day in that regard.
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, SENIOR FELLOW, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Absolutely, Michael. On the way here, I saw many of the churches are commemorating the anniversary of the slaughter of the so-called Heavenly Hundred in Iran's Maidan Square. A lot of people reflecting on that.
And then tomorrow is the anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea. So on the one hand, people are very nervous because Putin might take advantage of this numerology, so to speak, to do something.
But on the other hand, they're commemorating this. One quick thing on that, Michael. A lot of Ukrainians tell me, very few people, if any, have been prosecuted for that mass slaughter so many years ago.
HOLMES: When it comes to the current situation, let's talk about Putin's intent. He would be well aware that invading a country is one thing; holding it is another.
In that sense, what do you think he is calculating?
What is he weighing up?
BOCIURKIW: A lot of factors here. You know, weather, sanctions; things like that. But I think if the West right now, the only real powerful thing they have in their arsenal right now is the sanctions, I don't think the Russians are taking it very seriously.
Hence, I'm beginning to kind of lean in with Zelensky, saying that maybe some of those sanctions should be unleashed right now; especially, for example, lifting those golden visas that so many rich Russians got in the United Kingdom, things like that. That type of thing would get back to Putin right away.
HOLMES: Yes, that's a good point.
What do you make of the increasingly frequent clashes along that line of contact east of the country in the Donbas, fire being exchanged?
How much of a flashpoint could that be in the context of what might spark a full-on conflict?
BOCIURKIW: Michael, I have a really, really horrible feeling about that. As you know, I have been in the Donbas; I have been on the rebel side, I have stared these thugs in the eyes as part of the OSCE. They're capable of anything. They have no morals. They will even kill their own people, if need be.
So what they're doing right now, it's the Russian playbook, evacuating people, saying the Ukrainians are ready to attack them. And then they will use that as a precontext to build up this conflict even more. I would think perhaps the Russians coming informally to that occupied area and then maybe making a push to the south.
HOLMES: Yes, because we've already seen the so-called false flag and that kind of stuff. These evacuations, which were very choreographed, that whole disinformation part of it is key in all of this, too. I mean that's what leads to false flag...
BOCIURKIW: Yes, absolutely. And, Michael, it has to be said, that the other thing that worries me, the Russians have very long arms into Ukraine. Over the past years, in fact, we've seen assassinations of people, a Belarusian dissident, the Ukrainian journalist.
So right now what really worries me, and Zelensky has brought this up as well, as a former Western ambassador to Ukraine, is that there is a list of civil society activists, of intellectuals in Kyiv, that they would like to neutralize if they make a big push toward the capital.
HOLMES: The Ukraine still very much wants to be in NATO. That is a key sticking point for Vladimir Putin.
Do you see a situation, where the West might lean on Ukraine a little and sort of encourage them to say we'll give up NATO aspirations?
Everyone I've talked to here says, that ain't happening.
But do you think that might be something that the West might try to get Ukraine to do?
BOCIURKIW: I'm afraid so. I think that would be the next step of the West, to pressure Ukraine to either, temporarily, at least, drop its NATO bid or to move ahead with the Minsk accords, which it doesn't like, and grant some kind of autonomy to the occupied areas.
But I can tell you that there's a lot of controversy with that NATO suspension possibility here in Ukraine. Some people say it will draw people out onto the streets. Others, actually last night here, told me, you know, if that's what we have to do to keep the calm, prevent an invasion from happening, perhaps it is worth exploring.
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HOLMES: Can you see a situation where it's not a full invasion, perhaps partial, where he nibbles around the edges, as you say, the Donbas?
And perhaps a lot of people thinks he wants a land bridge to Crimea, take Mariupol through to Odessa?
Do you think that would be something he'd consider?
Or you think he'll just go all in or not?
BOCIURKIW: I hate to speculate but I think what we'll see perhaps is that formal takeover the Donbas, which by the way, is an economic basket case. But anyway -- but then that land bridge, because the one thing Crimea really needs right now is water. They don't have it.
Getting that land bridge would connect Crimea to a water canal from Ukraine. But very, very risky; a lot of blood would be spilled. But I think, at the end of the day, the only person who knows what's going to happen is Mr. Putin. And perhaps he doesn't even know at the moment.
HOLMES: Well put. Great to have you here with us, Michael, good to see you. Michael Bociurkiw there.
BOCIURKIW: Thank you. HOLMES: All right. Now critics say Russia is using that
disinformation campaign we were just talking about in order to justify a possible attack on Ukraine. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh breaks down that strategy for us, one that, of course, Russia has used in the past.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Wars come with their own fog, chaos, phone lines down, panic sewing confusion but in eastern Ukraine, that fog has long been fanned, amplified with false narratives, critics say, part of Moscow's strategy.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation, to have an excuse to go in. Every indication we have is they are prepared to go into Ukraine, attack Ukraine.
WALSH: Sometimes it is easy to spot, a separatist leader Denis Pushilin called on citizens in the separatist Donetsk People's Republic to flee Friday's escalating violence into Russia but the video file of this speech which mentioned Friday's date -- was, in fact, created on Wednesday according to its metadata.
WALSH (voice-over): A similar speech from the neighboring separatist area Luhansk had the same timing issue. So unless the same technical fault occurred both times both leaders seem to know midweek how bad things would get by Friday, making the call for civilians to flee a lot less spontaneous.
Then an explosion hit the city of Donetsk. Separatist media says they showed in military jeep destroyed, nobody was harmed but the apparent blast fed the narrative of violence mounting around the separatists.
Then there is the mass exodus of civilians from separatist areas, planned for hundreds of thousands but so far, a lot less. Pictures on Russian state TV. They get 10,000 rubles on $130 on arrival in Russia and however many really arrive, it is the sort of pretext Russia used in the past to justify assisting separatist rebels.
This video is quite dramatic and separatists said it was of clashes with polish saboteurs trying to blowing up an ammonia storage plant on Friday morning. But the video's metadata shows it was created ten days earlier, another technical fact that doesn't fit the separatist narrative.
A separatist news crew was at hand, too, to capture this, another blast at a pipeline.
The cameraman could have miraculous timing or it could fit into the slow pattern of misinformation, which grows often in advance of the violence in eastern Ukraine and provides a signal of what is to come, the direction in which the fog of war is being fanned -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Poland.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: All right. That'll do it from here in Lviv in Western Ukraine. Let's send it back to Atlanta and Kim Brunhuber -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much, Michael.
Much more to come here on CNN.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Police in Canada take on demonstrators in the capital, using pepper spray as protests enter their fourth week.
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BRUNHUBER: Plus, our Will Ripley is following the Beijing Olympics, as we're hours away from the closing ceremony -- Will.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And there is a plot twist, a big milestone for China when it comes to the medal count. What it means for the Winter Games.
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BRUNHUBER: After 16 days of competition, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are now in the books. Finland won the final gold earlier today, defeating the defending men's ice hockey champions, the Russian Olympic Committee, 2-1.
And here is a look at the medal table: Norway, 16 gold medals, the most ever won at a single Winter Games. We're now about three hours away from the closing ceremony, to what's turned out to be an historic competition.
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BRUNHUBER: Police in Canada's capital say they're ramping up tactics to try to end pandemic mandate protests that have choked the area around parliament for weeks.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): We are looking at video of people running after police used pepper spray on crowds. Police say they've arrested around 170 people, including protest leaders. They have also issued thousands of tickets and towed dozens of cars.
Some protesters have voluntarily left the area around Canada's parliament. Some die-hards insist they'll stay, despite a stern warning from police. Listen to this.
INTERIM CHIEF STEVE BELL, OTTAWA POLICE: This occupation is over. We have advised them that, if they peacefully leave, they may go home. That still exists. We also indicated that we would escalate and forcefully remove people from the streets if they did not comply. Some of that is what you're seeing.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, the government says that it will give up to $20 million to businesses that have lost revenue due to those blockades.
After nearly two years of strict pandemic rules, Australia is ready to welcome tourists from abroad. Fully vaccinated international travelers will be able to fly into the country beginning on Monday.
Prime minister Scott Morrison says, pack your bags, come and have one of the greatest experiences you could ever imagine.
In England, prime minister Boris Johnson is set to lay out the new plan for living with COVID. Downing Street says all regulations that restrict public freedoms will be repealed. They are calling it a move away from government intervention to personal responsibility.
Hong Kong is stepping up efforts to contain the runaway spread of COVID cases. It's overwhelmed the city in recent days and some of the strictest quarantine and tracing measures in the world don't seem to be working anymore. One top official says the city is in full-scale combat to contain the newest wave.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): A medical team from Mainland China arrives in Hong Kong to help fight a surge of COVID-19 cases in the city.
Relief in the form of supplies and additional manpower could not come at a more critical time for Hong Kong. Hospitals here are in a desperate state. Too many sick people, not enough space.
More than 90 percent of hospital beds in the city are full. Over the past few days, many patients were forced to wait outside under tarps and tents in cold, wet conditions. One Hong Kong resident says he was shocked by the scenes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy, it's kind of unbelievable that it could be this out of control.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): On Saturday, the chief executive of Hong Kong's hospital authority apologized for the situation and said most patients have now been moved indoors or to other facilities.
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam says hotel rooms and public housing units will be used to help with the overflow. Soon, 10,000 isolation and treatment units will be built with the help of crews from the Mainland.
Back in Wuhan in early 2020, Chinese workers built a hospital with more than 1,000 beds in just 10 days. Lam says there will also be a testing blitz.
CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: One of the measures that we are planning, planning very seriously, is a mandatory universal testing. So we will test everyone in Hong Kong.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Food supplies across the city have also been disrupted, after many cross border truck drivers tested positive for COVID. But officials say the shortages are beginning to ease in some areas, as shipments from the mainland arrive.
Carrie Lam also announced that Hong Kong's leadership election, scheduled for March, will be postponed until May to allow her administration to focus on the health care crisis.
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BRUNHUBER: Still to come, we'll look at why Ukraine's president is pausing -- pushing for the West to announce what sanctions it would impose on Russia before a possible invasion -- and not after.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber live at CNN Center in Atlanta.
HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes in Lviv, Ukraine. Appreciate your company.
Now the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has just warned that Russia is planning, quote, "the biggest war in Europe since 1945."
Now he made those remarks during an interview with British media. Mr. Johnson urging Moscow to de-escalate tensions before it's too late. But in Ukraine, the tensions keep rising.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Faster. Go, go, go.
HOLMES (voice-over): That's Ukraine's interior minister, along with a CNN news crew and other journalists, facing mortar fire. This was in Eastern Ukraine and it happened on Saturday. Thankfully, no one hurt in the incident.
But it shows the escalation that appears to have convinced Mr. Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is likely to happen and quite possibly very soon.
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HOLMES: Now in Germany, the Ukrainian president attended a key global security conference in Munich on Saturday and he spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in a wide-ranging interview. He said that new sanctions against Russia should be spelled out in detail now, not later. Have a listen.
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ZELENSKY (through translator): We had a discussion some time ago with one of the leaders of one of the leading countries and we were talking about the sanction policy.
We had a different vision on how sanctions should be applied when Russian aggression will happen. And we are being told that you have several days and then the war will start.
And I said, OK, then apply the sanctions today. Yes, they say, we apply sanctions when the war will happen. I'm saying, fine, but you are telling me that it's 100 percent that the war will start in a couple days.
Then what are you waiting for?
We don't need your sanctions after the bombardment will happen and after our country will be fired at or after we will have no borders, after we will have no economy or part of our countries will be occupied. Why would we need sanctions then?
What is this about?
So when you're asking, what can be done?
Well, lots of different things can be done. We can even provide you the list. The most important is willingness.
The question is not about introducing them today. The whole world understands that tomorrow there's a high probability of escalation by Russian Federation and if Russian Federation if they are pulling back their militarizing, there would be a bad step. If they are pulling back, then there is no question. That's a soft option.
I'm talking about the diplomats who cannot apply sanctions automatically. I'm talking about the logic. If they pull back their troops, there will be no sanctions.
But today, even the question of just making it public preventively, just the list of sanctions, for them, for Russia to know what will happen if they start the war, even that question does not have the support.
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HOLMES: Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine's Parliament, also went to the Munich conference. Earlier, I asked her if she's happy with the level of support Ukraine is getting from the West. She says more could be done by the country's allies.
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KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Though Ukraine is really grateful for the support we are receiving during the last few months, we see that right now is the time for more critical measures and more active actions.
We see that Putin is going through with his strategy and he is able to move really rapidly, without having to align with any democratic rules or procedures. Right. So the events are unwrapping, very fast and the democratic countries need to start, ASAP, on the procedures that are required to protect Ukraine right now.
The near-term actions that we see, they need to be personal and sectoral sanctions on Putin and his closest circle.
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RUDIK: And then additional military support land leave (ph) and guarantees for no-fly zone in Ukraine, in the near-term future.
HOLMES: Strong measures you are asking for. I wanted to ask you this, when it comes to diplomacy, we see a lot of Russian officials speaking with European leaders. You see American leaders speaking with Russian leaders.
Do you feel Ukrainians are involved enough or being heard enough directly?
Or is everyone talking around Ukraine?
RUDIK: So for Ukrainian diplomacy, there is this goal, that nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. However, in reality, we often see that this does not happen. And though President Zelensky aims to have a direct negotiations with Putin, we, in Ukrainian parliament, are persuaded that the discussion and this table, where all the countries sit, needs to, at least, have Zelensky, Putin, Biden and a U.K. representative, probably Boris Johnson.
That would be at least configuration where we have enough of strong support from our allies.
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HOLMES: Now adding to the tensions, Russia is staging nuclear drills near NATO's borders on Saturday. The show of force overseen by Mr. Putin and his ally, the president of Belarus. It comes as officials in the U.S. fear that Belarus could be a staging area for a possible Russian attack. More now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia's army on the offensive in major live fire drills with Belarusian forces inside Belarus but close to the border with Ukraine. Practicing for a massive onslaught, the commander explaining their objective.
Today, at the live fire demonstration, a defensive battle was shown and then a counter strike to restore the forces position along the front line he says.
These troops are part of the more than 150,000 soldiers Russia has amassed around Ukraine the U.S. believes. Washington fears Belarus could be one of the launching pads for an attack on Ukraine. Even though Moscow claims it has no such plans.
(on camera): In these very tense times Russia is really flexing its military muscle not just with these massive drills here in Belarus, with exercises elsewhere as well involving some of Russia's elite combat units.
(voice-over): Vladimir Putin himself oversaw nuclear drills near NATO's borders involving some of Russia's most dangerous weapons like the Kinzhal hypersonic air to ground missile or the intercontinental ballistic missile Yars fired from a mobile launcher. Russia fired missiles from air, land and sea showing off the Kremlin's nuclear arsenal.
The main goal of the ongoing exercise is to work out actions to inflict guaranteed defeat on the enemy. Putin's top General said. The widespread military power play comes as the U.S. believes Vladimir Putin has already made the decision to invade Ukraine.
AUSTIN: I believe that we should continue to try up until the very last minute until it's no longer possible. But I think -- I think, if you look at the stance that he is in the day, it's apparent that he has made a decision and that they're moving into the right positions to be able to conduct an attack.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russia denies it will attack Ukraine but its leadership so far has not announced any timeline for the withdrawal of the massive forces it has placed around Ukraine -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Obuz Levanovsky (ph), Belarus.
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HOLMES: That'll do it from us here in Lviv in Western Ukraine for now. Let's toss it back to Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Michael.
A second COVID booster shot might be on the horizon for Americans. But while we're still dealing with the pandemic, the U.S. is also experiencing another public health crisis, driven by synthetic opioids. That's even killing kids in middle school. That's ahead.
Plus our live coverage of the standoff in Ukraine continues, as fears of a Russian invasion reach a fever pitch. That's just ahead in our next hour. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. health experts say a second booster dose of the COVID vaccine might be in the cards later this year. An FDA official tells CNN that guidance might be need as we get closer to the last three months of the year. Now it would have to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control.
According to the CDC, nearly 65 percent of the total U.S. population is considered fully vaccinated and about 28 percent have received a booster dose.
During the coronavirus pandemic, another public health problem has gotten worse. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. increased significantly. Most were caused synthetic opioids like fentanyl, a powerful drug used to treat severe pain.
The problem is even impacting kids in middle school. One grieving mother spoke with Elizabeth Cohen, who filed this report.
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AMY NEVILLE, ALEXANDER'S MOTHER: That's one of the last pictures of him. That's actually the shirt he died in.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In June of 2020, Amy Neville found her son Alexander dead in his bedroom.
AMY NEVILLE: I went in his room and he was blue. He was laying on his bean bag chair just like he'd gone to bed. You know, like he'd just fallen asleep there.
COHEN (voice-over): Alexander was 14 years old -- just a child.
COHEN (on camera): Legos and Boy Scouts and a teddy bear and he died of fentanyl.
AMY NEVILLE: It just doesn't make sense, you know. Sometimes it's -- I wake up and it's hard to understand that this is our life but here we are.
COHEN (on camera): You lost him so young.
AMY NEVILLE: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): Fentanyl, a highly toxic synthetic opioid -- a drug like no other -- is filling middle-schoolers nationwide.
ROBERT MURPHY, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DEA ATLANTA DIVISION: They should be watching cartoons and eating bad cereal. They shouldn't be dropping dead from taking counterfeit pills.
COHEN (voice-over): Special agent Robert Murphy with the Drug Enforcement Administration says kids who think they're buying Xanax or Adderall or OxyContin from their drug dealer -- most of the time they're actually getting knockoffs. Fake pills that are laced with fentanyl. And just a few milligrams of fentanyl can be a fatal dose.
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MURPHY: We're seeing 40 percent of the pills that are being analyzed now have a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl.
COHEN (on camera): But back when we were kids if a middle-schooler experimented it didn't kill them.
MURPHY: We're dealing with a different threat -- a drug threat. Fentanyl has changed that game.
COHEN (voice-over): While still rare, drug deaths among children ages 10 to 14 more than tripled from 2019 to 2020, according to an analysis done for CNN by the CDC.
Just in the past month, 12-year-old Dalilah Mederos, in California, died of fentanyl poisoning. And fentanyl killed a 13-year-old boy in Connecticut. Police say they recovered 40 bags of fentanyl from his school and about 100 bags from his bedroom.
COHEN (on camera): What did Alex think he was taking?
AMY NEVILLE: Oxycodone.
AARON NEVILLE, ALEXANDER'S FATHER: He thought he was taking legitimate prescriptions.
AMY NEVILLE: The pill that Alexander took -- if it was a legitimate prescription pill he'd still be here. But instead, that pill had enough fentanyl in it to kill at least four people.
COHEN (voice-over): Children have grown up thinking prescription pills are safe.
AARON NEVILLE: It's whatever it is, you've got pills for it, so we all trust the pills. And especially, when they're young, it looks legit.
COHEN (on camera): You didn't know to say to Alex one pill could kill you?
AMY NEVILLE: Exactly. We had no idea one pill would kill him. We had no idea about fentanyl.
We talked to our kid. If talking to Alex is all it took, that kid would have lived forever. But we were not talking about the right thing because we didn't know about it.
COHEN (voice-over): And where did a 14-year-old -- a child -- get illegal drugs?
AMY NEVILLE: He told us he had connected with this dealer through Snapchat.
COHEN (voice-over): Buying drugs on social media is so common that the DEA has worked to figure out which emojis teens use to make the purchases.
MURPHY: If you put a cookie, a rocket and a candy bar together it looks innocent. But what I just said is I just got a -- received a large shipment of highly-potent Xanax bars.
COHEN (on camera): So these two together mean Xanax --
MURPHY: Yes and this --
COHEN (on camera): -- and this means --
MURPHY: Bring it to school -- yes.
COHEN (voice-over): Snapchat says it uses tools to detect drug- dealing activity and shut down dealers and is bringing every resource to bear to fight the fentanyl epidemic on its app and across the tech industry.
Before he died, Alexander had a bright future in front of him.
AMY NEVILLE: He loved history. He had visions of one day being a director at the Smithsonian.
COHEN (voice-over): Now, on a shelf in his bedroom, is an urn with his ashes -- Elizabeth Cohen, San Tan Valley, Arizona.
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BRUNHUBER: Tragic.
A California police officer was killed and another injured when a police helicopter crashed in Newport Beach. The chopper from nearby Huntington Beach was responding to a disturbance call when it went into the water.
Authorities don't know why it crashed and an investigation is underway as the police department inspects other aircraft. The mayor of Huntington Beach says the community is mourning over the loss of one of their own.
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MAYOR BARBARA DELGLEIZE, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA: Our community values our police department and the loss of an officer hits us all really hard. This tragic accident serves as a reminder of the danger and the risks that our police officers put themselves in on a daily basis to protect our community.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Forty-four-year-old officer Nicholas Villa died in the crash. He was a 14-year veteran of the force and leaves behind a wife and a daughter.
And there was a dramatic helicopter crash at a crowded Florida beach on Saturday afternoon. Take a look at this harrowing scene, as the chopper narrowly misses swimmers and sunbathers. This happened near the popular South Beach in Miami.
Police say three people were on board, two were taken to the hospital and reportedly are in a stable condition. The third person was not hurt.
What caused the crash is not yet known but, of course, an investigation is underway.
Storm Eunice is still battering parts of Europe this weekend. We'll look at the damage the storm has left behind and have updates on the powerful system ahead.
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BRUNHUBER: The death toll is rising from those devastating landslides that hit Brazil earlier this week. At least 152 people have died and nearly 200 more are still missing after torrential rains battered an area north of Rio de Janeiro.
Hundreds more have been displaced by flooding. More rain hit the area Saturday, hindering rescue operations. Rainfall on Tuesday afternoon alone was more than the historical average for the entire month of February.
The United Kingdom and parts of northwest Europe are beginning to recover in the wake of Storm Eunice.
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ANDY GOLDING, AMSTERDAM RESIDENT: It was a little bit disconcerting, because our apartment was swaying. Like my --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GOLDING: -- workstation, my screens were moving in the wind, even though everything was closed.
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BRUNHUBER: The deadly system tracked in from the Central Atlantic, pummeling Ireland and the British Isles on Friday and moving across Europe even now. Experts call it one of the worst in decades with record-breaking hurricane-strength gusts.
And now, parts of the U.S. are dealing with heavy winter weather this weekend. In the Northeast, snow squall warnings were in effect in several states as an arctic front brought intense snow and winds, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. But now there's a new storm gearing up in the West.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back along with my colleague, Michael Holmes, live in Ukraine with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Please do stay with us.
