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Russia Intensifies Attacks On Ukrainian Cities, Moving Closer To Kyiv; Biden Approves Another $200 Million For Ukraine Military Aid; Humanitarian Situation Bleak As Evacuations Stall; Russian Airstrike Damages Historic Orthodox Monastery; E.U. Leaders Ask Putin For Immediate Cease-Fire; Ukrainian Conflict Could Spread To Space; Global Pandemic Two Years On; Freeze Warnings In South Affect 25+ Million. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired March 13, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

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. I want to get straight to our breaking news.

Officials in Ukraine say at least nine people were killed following Russian airstrikes on a military base early this morning. Ukrainian officials say another 57 people were hurt when missiles hit the International Peacekeeping and Security Center. The military base is located outside of Lviv, very close to the Polish border.

We're also learning that airstrikes have almost completely destroyed the infrastructure at an airport in a different part of Western Ukraine. It comes as Russian troops are intensifying attacks across the country.

Video from a village outside of Kyiv shows the town virtually obliterated by Russian airstrikes. British intelligence estimates the bulk of Russian forces are now about 25 kilometers, a little over 15 miles, from Kyiv.

U.K. defense officials also believe that Russian forces are trying to envelop Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country, according to a new assessment.

Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry has released this video, reportedly showing paratroopers taking over an airfield in Ukraine. Now Russia didn't say which airfield it reportedly captured or when. And CNN couldn't independently confirm if the video accurately shows what's happening on the ground.

In Eastern Ukraine, officials say a Russian airstrike damaged a historic orthodox monastery Saturday night. According to officials, more than 500 people were sheltering there when the blast hit near an entrance. No one was killed but several were taken to hospital with injuries.

The Chernobyl nuclear plant has temporary power now after being disconnected from Ukraine's power grid on March 9th. The plant, which hasn't been active since the 1986 meltdown, is now powered by generators.

Russian forces have taken control of the plant. But its Ukrainian staff is still working there. In fact, they're living there under the intense pressure of Russian guards. And there are growing fears that the exhausted workers could make catastrophic mistakes in a crisis.

The newly installed mayor of a Ukrainian city under Russian military control says her main task is getting the city back to normal. The acting mayor warned on local TV that there are still people in Melitopol who would try to destabilize the situation and provoke a reaction.

Russian-backed separatists in the region detained the city's elected mayor on Friday and accused him of terrorism offenses. You can see him being carried away in these images here. Ukraine's president says he's asked Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett for help securing the release of the captive mayor and other local public figures.

The exodus from Ukraine is growing, as more and more people leave to escape the fighting. According to the U.N., some 2.6 million refugees have fled to other countries. Officials have been working to set up at least 13 evacuation corridors from different cities in hopes of giving people a chance to flee for safety.

Ukraine's government says around 13,000 endangered civilians made it out on Saturday. But according to the deputy prime minister, no one was able to escape the besieged city of Mariupol, which is surrounded by Russian troops and Russian-backed fighters.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pleading for more international help and more aid from allies. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All of the humanitarian corridors, by the way, which were agreed to, they have worked. We did manage to evacuate 12,729 people. And then there will be humanitarian aid to Mariupol.

Because of the difficulties, they had stopped. And I keep reiterating to our allies and friends abroad, they have to keep doing more for our country, for Ukrainians and Ukraine because it is not only for Ukraine but it is for all of Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: So as the fighting grinds on, we've seen Ukrainians from all walks of life taking up arms to defend their country. Among them, Sviatoslav Yurash, the youngest member of Ukraine's parliament. He spoke to my colleague, Hala Gorani, about how he's been forced to quickly learn how to become a soldier. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SVIATOSLAV YURASH, UKRAINIAN MP: We cleared all the incursions we've had in the city in the first week.

Now we are basically fighting on the outskirts of the city, trying to keep the western supply routes open, trying to prepare our capital for whatever comes. Again, it is our capital. It is the foundational city for our history. We cannot give up on it in any way.

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HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: You're a politician.

Have you ever handled a weapon?

Were you in the military?

Or is this your first time?

YURASH: I'm by no means a soldier. I'm a rudimentary soldier at best, trying to learn skills of soldiering every single day with various people, that I try and work with in different military units. But the point is that we are organizing. We are organizing in every way we can to try and resist the Russians and whatever they throw at us.

GORANI: What is it like, going from just living a pretty ordinary civilian life to, suddenly, becoming the defender of your land in an existential battle, really?

YURASH: Well, it's not so much a choice as a reality. We are fighting against second biggest military in the world and that wants to destroy our nation, our country. The point here is that, again, we are by no means at a point of a choice.

We have to become and learn to be those soldiers that we were not just two weeks ago because, again, it is battle for our very existence, for our very independence.

GORANI: Have you been close to the front lines or, so far, have you just prepared for an eventual --

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YURASH: I've been to the front lines many times. I've been to the front lines -- almost every second day, I'm going to the front lines. My soldiering skills aren't the most useful, so my usefulness is in terms of getting -- also getting different things that soldiers need.

GORANI: And what is your expectation for what might happen?

Because the concern is that these armored vehicle columns outside of Kyiv are moving in a way that could suggest they're trying to encircle the capital.

Is that one of your worries? YURASH: They are trying to encircle the capital. They are basically trying to cut our western supply routes. They have been going to the cities on the path to the western border with the European Union. And they are basically trying to cut our supply lines in every way.

And the battles have been raging for the last couple of days in those small towns, in and around Kyiv, that you have seen, with Russian shelling residential buildings, with tank battles unlike anything since the Second World War. And the point here is that we are basically having to defend and try and keep that supply route open.

GORANI: What do you -- I mean, I know that NATO allies and Western nations are sending weapons. The president, Zelenskyy, has called for a no-fly zone. But Western nations, including the United States, have been quite clear they do not want to explore that idea for now, worried that this might lead to a direct confrontation with Russia.

What would you like Western nations, who want to help you repel Russian invaders, to do now?

YURASH: We've said give us the means to create that no-fly zone ourselves. We're shooting down Russian planes every single day in good number.

The point is, if we have more means to do so, if we have more planes to do so, we will be able to do it much more effectively because the Russian -- (INAUDIBLE) air is not so much in terms of the effectiveness as in terms of their number.

So the point is to keep shooting down those planes and keep that ability by the Russians to cause chaos and horror in different parts of my country from realization. So the point here is that we are trying to request either the West to wake up and see the fact that it's causing a humanitarian catastrophe right now in the making.

Ukraine and the West can do something about it. Or give us the means for us to do something about it because, again, we are living through the moment, one of which you know from history, is something should never happen again.

Now it's happening again. And you can do something about it. And I'm just wondering how many pictures, how many photos and videos you have to see to realize that this is -- this is something that has to be stopped.

GORANI: And just lastly, do you have any hope -- I know that it would be a very small glimmer at this stage -- that there can be some sort of diplomatic avenue here, that Russia maybe is going to realize that its effort, that it thought would be a lightning strike, is taking much longer, that it's taking much higher losses and that perhaps there's some way of deescalating this situation on the diplomatic front?

Any hope at all, from your perspective?

YURASH: Putin has pretty much done everything possible for diplomacy not to be imaginable here.

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YURASH: In the response, in the first response by our president to Mr. Putin's claims about the history between our countries, we've stressed diplomacy.

We've stressed our need to try and work on diplomatic solutions and steps in that direction.

But Mr. Putin launched a full-on invasion since then. The only point we've agreed on with Mr. Putin was the matter of humanitarian corridors. And he has shelled them every single time in those besieged cities all around Ukraine.

So the point here is that Mr. Putin himself doesn't want diplomacy. In a way (ph), he wants that victory. We will not give to it him. We are fighting for (INAUDIBLE) independence and we will keep fighting until we can do whatever we can to get our country to be free at last.

GORANI: All right, Sviatoslav Yurash, Ukrainian member of parliament, joining us live from Kyiv, who's taken up arms to defend his city and his country, thank you very much.

YURASH: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, live in Western Ukraine.

I understand you're just outside that International Peacekeeping and Security Center, that was hit by Russian airstrikes just hours ago.

What can you tell us about what happened?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, we're just on the outskirts here, the perimeter of this base. Normally this road I'm on would be a public access road. But there's already been a checkpoint set up down the way.

You can, of course, sense that there is a bit of tension here, a bit of security concern. Several missiles, airstrikes, Ukrainian authorities saying, landing in that base. We do know that there are more than 50 people wounded, several people killed, according to Ukrainian authorities.

We're still trying to determine if there was any infrastructure damage on that base. But let me give you the backstory of why this is so important.

This is a sprawling complex. You can see it's a hugely wooded area. And it's in these areas that military exercises, training, education, troops come to learn and practice, not just on their own but with a lot of their Western allies, including American troops. There were joint military exercises held on this space just a few

months ago, joint exercises between the Americans and Ukrainians. This is a vital point for the Ukrainian military. So this is a strike at the heart of an operating base that would be crucial.

The other part of this, Kim, is those very important weapons shipments and support in aid that Ukraine is expecting to receive from its allies in the United States. The U.S. just announced more than $200 million in immediate assistance. That would include education, training, of course, small weaponry for those on the front --

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ABDELAZIZ: But here's the concern. (INAUDIBLE) shipments, any convoys of weaponry across Ukraine they would consider legitimate targets. That raises fears of a very direct confrontation, potentially, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, hopefully your signal will stay up with us here. We just lost you a little bit there.

But I want to ask you, this attack where you are, it seems to be part of a larger pattern of escalation of the conflict, which seems to be spreading west now. But we've seen more missile attacks and airstrikes ramping up across the country.

But I think we now have lost -- OK, can you hear me, Salma?

ABDELAZIZ: I do have you, Kim. I'm not sure if you have me. I'm just going to talk you through it here until we lose our signal.

But essentially, yes, you are absolutely right. These are parts of the country that were largely spared. The West of the country is where refugees were fleeing to because that was considered the safe haven.

But over the last several days, we have seen repeated attacks on western sites. These are attacks that land very close to the Polish border, 70 miles from the Polish border, Lutsk.

Among them, this base just behind me; another airport was also attacked. Yes, this is military infrastructure, according to Russian troops. But also, you have to remember, there are many villages around here. Families woke up to the sounds of air raid sirens, communications on their phones, telling them to go into bomb shelters.

So this begins to expand this offensive across the country, as President Zelenskyy said. There seems to be a front line everywhere in Ukraine, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: A disturbing escalation there. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you very much.

Before we go to break, I want to give you a welcome sight of kids being kids, having a pillow fight of sorts, with plush toys, all donated at a refugee shelter in Poland. Stay with us.

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YULIA SVYRYDENKO, UKRAINIAN ECONOMY MINISTER: People are dying, children are dying. We have humanitarian crisis in several cities. People lack of water, lack of food. And that's just we, we actually, we don't have weeks or months. That's why we need this assistance right now.

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BRUNHUBER: There are now some 2.6 million refugees who have fled Ukraine. It's a startling number and the United Nations estimates another 2 million people have been displaced inside the country.

Poland has taken in most of those who have left Ukraine; 1.5 million refugees are there. And it's led to scenes like this, long lines of people being processed at refugee centers. They're mostly women and children, because Ukraine won't let men between 18 and 60 leave.

Now there's been limited success evacuating civilians from some of the hardest hit areas. Near Kyiv Friday, thousands escaped, despite incoming fire.

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BRUNHUBER: The governor of Kharkiv in the east said the effort to evacuate a nearby town was, in his words, "disrupted by Russian occupiers" who shelled the area. To the south in Mariupol, Ukraine's defense minister said that Russians bombed the city even during the official negotiations.

Local authorities say that shelling and airstrikes have killed nearly 1,600 people. Even for those who have made it to safety, the pain is excruciating.

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ELENA PUGCHOVA, ODESSA REFUGEE: The situation is really -- I cannot speak without tears. I'm sorry, but I'm really sorry for my country. And nobody could expect this, really. This is awfully, awful things. They are bombing Kharkiv, they are bombing Mykolaiv, it's only 120 kilometers from Odessa. And it's painful inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The Ukrainian government says an aid convoy headed to Mariupol has made some progress. Officials said earlier the convoy was now in Berdyansk, moving toward Mariupol, which is about 50 miles away. Ukrainian authorities say they'll try to open a number of other

humanitarian corridors on Sunday in areas where fighting has impacted the civilian population. This includes the heavily-damaged town of Borodyanka north of Kyiv.

Previous efforts to organize the movement of civilians from there to Kyiv have failed.

Ukraine's former leader had a dire warning for Russian president Vladimir Putin and his military. Petro Poroshenko spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper earlier from Kyiv. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We have less and less ammunition. And we do not allow -- we are not giving up. We are not forgive the Putin these type of things.

And I am absolutely confident that we will fight in every single house, every single street and every single quarter in Kyiv, in Kharkiv, in Chernihiv, in all of the cities would be the hell for the Russian soldiers and would be, at the end of the day, the hell for Putin.

And with this situation, just the more you help us to increase the effectiveness of Ukrainian armed forces, the weaker would be Putin. And this why the security of the whole world, security of U.S., security of U.N., security of NATO would be higher.

Please, we need to be united, the same way like Putin do three mistake. Mistake number one, he overestimate his army. And we Ukrainian armed forces demonstrated that. And I am proud that me, as a president, created this army in the year 2014.

Point number two, he underestimate Ukrainian armed forces.

And point number three, he underestimate unity of Ukraine and that he cannot blow up, cannot break our unity.

And he underestimate the unity of the whole world because, after the 24th of February, the transatlantic unity, European unity, unity of the whole world demonstrated during the General Assembly of the United Nations, with only five nations support Russia, Syria to North Korea.

And this is the basis of the support on one hand. And 141 nations support Ukraine. And Ukraine now providing the beginning, the end of the Russian empire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BRUNHUBER: Now I want to bring in writer Oleg Radzinsky, he's the director of the Free Russia Foundation. He was born in Moscow, emigrated to the U.S. and now lives in London, where he's written several Russian-themed books. Thank you so much for joining us. You've been watching this conflict

unfold.

Why did you feel compelled to do something about it?

OLEG RADZINSKY, FREE RUSSIA FOUNDATION: Good morning. Thank you for having me on your program. Well, my friends and I, who believe in the best for U.K. and don't really consider ourselves Russians, Putin's Russians, we, when this tragedy occurred, we couldn't just stand on the sidelines, because we felt responsible for what is happening with citizens (INAUDIBLE).

But still we felt this urge to help the victims of Putin's aggression against Ukraine, against the southern nation of Ukraine. And we decided to (INAUDIBLE) to help Ukrainian victims of war and as well as to show the West, (INAUDIBLE), that true Russians do not support Putin's aggression.

That true Russians support peace, that true Russians support the sovereignty of Ukraine. And our goal is to collect funds to help Ukrainian refugees and (INAUDIBLE) that Putin's aggression, that not all Russians support Putin's aggression.

BRUNHUBER: I'm wondering, so this effort is mostly taking place outside of Russia, obviously. But I'm just wondering how hard it is to reach Russians in Russia, to change minds there.

You know, I've been struck by reports from Ukrainians, who have family in Russia, for instance, who are telling them, listen, we're sheltering in bomb shelters, we're seeing attacks on our city.

And the Russians saying, no, this is all fake news. This isn't happening.

I mean, with all of the propaganda that's going on in Russia, how hard is it to reach people there and to change minds?

RADZINSKY: It is hard. But we're not trying to change all the public opinion in Russia and (INAUDIBLE) the Russians inside of Russia.

[05:25:00]

RADZINSKY: Because it's become virtually impossible to reach out to them. And our appeal is more to the people of the West, because we want the people of the West to understand that Putin is not fighting Ukraine only. He's fighting the West.

And first and foremost, the United States of America, who he considers his main enemy in Ukraine and to Ukraine. So we cannot reach people in Russia; we are not trying to. (INAUDIBLE). I think they will make their own choice but we are trying to bring attention to the situation here in the West and help Ukrainians and refugees.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. You underline the importance of the West in this battle. What effect are the sanctions having in Russia and, most importantly,

do you think that they will do enough to turn Russians and Russian oligarchs, who support Putin, against him?

RADZINSKY: Well, the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia really aren't (INAUDIBLE). They are certainly greater than the sanctions that were imposed in 2013, after the annexation of Crimea (INAUDIBLE).

They will produce a short-term shock to the Russian economy, because, now, after the United States imposed the sanctions on Russia's central bank, Russia's ruble has become a nonconvertible currency, basically.

So Russia is cut off from its hard currency door (ph). But in the meantime, we shouldn't forget that Russia did not us this (INAUDIBLE) for eight years and decides, now, the tourists, who usually spend $90 billion outside of Russia, will stay home, because all flights from and to Russia are canceled.

So they will spend this money, this $19 billion at home. It will be a great boost to the domestic economy, because that's actually more than all sales of oil and gas combined, paradoxically. But we should look at what's happening to the sanctions from the long-term perspective.

And from the long-term perspective came, that will have a great, great effect upon the Russian economy because, with the advance (ph) of technology in both the West, the Russian (INAUDIBLE), the Russian economy will have to reinvent itself.

And so it will basically go back to the situation of prior to 1987. And I don't think that the Russian economy and the current regime know how to reinvent the economy in these conditions without the (INAUDIBLE) of the Western technology.

That -- and that -- and this alone will create a great effect upon the Russian economy. And obviously, it will hurt the Russians, probably. But I'm very doubtful that Russian public opinion will turn against Putin anytime soon, because the current regime will definitely -- they will -- what they will do, in my opinion, they will default on their obligations, on their bonds.

And it's another $460 billion that they want to be repaid on their debt. And they will spend it on the Russian economy. But mostly, they will spend it on the armed forces, because, as any dictator, Putin wants to share the load here of its -- of the country's armed forces (INAUDIBLE).

BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there but, just before you go, I just want to say, your organization, True Russia, it's raising funds for Ukrainian refugees, who have been displaced by war. If people want to help, they can go to GoFundMe and donate.

Is that right?

RADZINSKY: Yes. It's GoFundMe/TrueRussia.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, listen, thank you so much for speaking with us, Oleg Radzinsky, we really appreciate it.

All right. And if you would like to help people in Ukraine who need shelter, food or water, please go to cnn.com/impact and you can find several ways to help there.

Russia's president seems to be a man of action, not words. But the leaders of France and Germany hope he'll listen to their words. We'll have details on Saturday's phone call between the three leaders ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. We've had some audio difficulties. We've fixed them now. Now on to our news.

The Russian invasion on Ukraine coming closer to the city from where CNN has been reporting. Ukraine says nine people were killed in a Russian missile strike on a military base near Lviv this morning; 57 others were injured. The base includes a training center for peacekeeping missions with Western troops.

Emergency crews are still putting out fires and removing the debris. Another airport in Western Ukraine also took Russian fire for the third time. Now this is footage of one of the earlier attacks in Ivano-Frankivsk. The city's mayor says a Russian airstrike hit the airport again Sunday, destroying most of its infrastructure. There are no casualties.

But several people were wounded in a historic orthodox monastery in Eastern Ukraine Saturday night. The nation's parliament says Russian airstrikes hit near the religious facility, where hundreds of refugees were staying. The 16th century monastery is located in the Donetsk region.

During a 75-minute phone call Saturday, German and French leaders urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to declare an immediate cease- fire in Ukraine. French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to Putin for a diplomatic solution.

But a source said that Macron was disappointed by the, quote, "insincerity" of his Russian counterpart. The source says that Putin still seems determined to achieve his objectives in Ukraine. But the fact that he's still talking means a diplomatic solution isn't out of the question.

Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris with the details.

Melissa, it doesn't sound as though much was achieved.

Still, any reason to hope here?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the French presidency said that there will be more phone calls. They will seek to continue reaching out to Vladimir Putin, although they haven't fixed a time for when that next phone call will take place.

There was one on Thursday between the same three leaders, another one on Saturday. Very little progress in terms of what might happen. Again, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron emphasized to Vladimir Putin that a cease-fire was needed, a cease-fire was needed in order that negotiations could begin.

Explained one source within the Elysee Palace, on the question of security, the question of Ukrainian sovereignty and the security demands being made, both by Russia and by Ukraine these last few days.

So there is some hope from within the Elysee Palace that dialogue is important to continue. And what one source said was that, look, as long as Vladimir Putin is engaging in these phone calls, there is at least some suggestion that, in his mind, a diplomatic solution may be possible at some point.

But clearly, not much ground for optimism for the time being. I asked about Vladimir Putin's state of mind; determined came the answer, determined to achieve his objectives in Ukraine. And of course, that does not bode well.

There is some suggestion -- and we heard this from President Zelenskyy over the weekend -- that those negotiations that are taking place between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators may lead to something. He said, rather than just exchanging ultimatums, they're now actually talking and having conversations.

[05:40:00]

BELL: But in terms of what's in Putin's mind, as far as the French presidency goes, there is not much hope, not much ground for hope, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Melissa Bell, appreciate that.

Well, it's easy to forget. But as tensions with Ukraine and Russia unfold here on Earth, they could effect what happens in outer space. A war in space could have catastrophic consequences for everyone. And the devastation and its impact on civilian lives and societies would be unimaginable.

Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash by disrupting the operation of Russian spacecraft serving the ISS. That's according to the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, which called for the sanctions to be lifted.

As a result, the Russian segment of the station, which helps correct its orbit, could be affected, causing the more than 550-ton structure to, quote, "fall down into the sea or onto land," the Roscosmos chief wrote on Instagram.

Now on March 1st, NASA said it was trying to find a solution to keep the ISS in orbit without Russia's help. Later this month, a U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts are set to return to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Space has been one of the last remaining places where the United States and Russia continue to cooperate. So for more, I'm joined now by CNN aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien, live from New York.

So Miles, just on that last point there, it's really worth noting that, despite years of ongoing confrontation between Russia and the West, when it comes to scientists and astronauts, those conflicts have largely been left back on Earth.

But we've seen a Twitter beef between the head of the space agency and retired astronaut Scott Kelly. This isn't the first international crisis that has threatened collaboration.

So what's different this time?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, those tweets, you mentioned, are quite volatile. The head of Roscosmos is known for his hyperbole on Twitter and engaged in a Twitter war with retired astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent more than a year in space a few years ago on the International Space Station.

He called Scott Kelly "a moron" and it just kind of devolved from there. What led to that whole exchange was sort of a spoof video, which implied that the Russian cosmonauts would seal the hatch, disattach their section of the International Space Station and leave the current U.S. astronaut up there, who's expecting to ride on the Soyuz rocket, Mark Vandehei, alone in space.

That upset Scott Kelly. Let's back up, though. We're talking about 30 years of excellent cooperation at the engineering, cosmonaut and astronaut level, an extraordinary turn of events, when you consider the Cold War origins of the space program. And now to see this all unwind, in what seems to be a matter of a few days, is very sad, indeed, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. So, OK, so there's been that over the top rhetoric, the threats, you know, an astronaut would be banned in space; those threats that maybe the International Space Station could crash down to Earth.

I mean, how realistic is it really that this conflict could lead to a catastrophe in space?

O'BRIEN: Not so realistic. So let's not worry about the Chicken Little scenario at this moment. The Russian side of the International Space Station is responsible for keeping it boosted into orbit. It has the rocketry capable of keeping the space station from dropping, due to the drag that occurs.

Even though it's in space, it lowers ever so slightly over time. The U.S. side has the electrical components, so they are intertwined. That said, there are other ways to keep the station aloft, boosting it with visiting rockets, for example, whether it's SpaceX or other cargo vehicles that should come there.

So it's not going to just drop out of the sky, as the Russian space chief would suggest. Nor is there any real plan to disattach the Russian side, to have it go on its merry way. Without the electrical production provided on the U.S. side, it wouldn't do so well on its own, either.

BRUNHUBER: OK. So let's take out those dramatic scenarios but still very important. Russia has been an important collaborator with Western nations in space, as we've said.

So what would potentially be at stake here in terms of projects like the mission to Mars?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it's unfortunate because, to my way of thinking, the great accomplishment of the International Space Station, now, if you look at origins in the mid-90s, now approaching 30 years of partnership, the greatest accomplishment was not so much the engineering in the space frontier but the fact that the nations all learned to work together.

[05:45:00]

O'BRIEN: Not just the U.S. and Russia but a partnership of nations, about 16 of them, all working for a peaceful end in space, had a great diplomatic feel of accomplishment to it. So all of that seems to be unwinding very quickly.

As far as the practicalities of space, this is basically accelerating trends that were already happening. The space station is due to be sunset in 2030. The U.S. side has developed its own way to bring astronauts to the International Space Station through the SpaceX rocket, built by Elon Musk's company, the Dragon.

So there's less need for the Russian Soyuz rocket. And then there's these rocket motors that are used by the United Launch Alliance for the Atlas rocket. The Russians have said that they will no longer ship those motors.

But that company, United Launch Alliance, has already transitioned or is transitioning to rocket motors made by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company. So there are trends that are already happening here that would happen. It's just happening faster.

And the question is, where does this ultimately lead?

BRUNHUBER: That's the question, as you say. It is sad to see this one sphere of cooperation sort of disappearing here. We'll have to leave it there. Miles O'Brien, thank you so much, really appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: Kim, a pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: Parts of the U.S. are shivering and digging out this weekend. We'll go to the CNN Weather Center for the latest on the massive winter storm, next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Two years ago, the world entered a global pandemic and now some countries are trying to phase out of COVID restrictions while others are having to reimplement them. Here's CNN's Paula Newton.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just over two years ago, the World Health Organization confirmed what we all feared: the virus spreading across the globe would only get worse.

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

NEWTON (voice-over): First identified in Wuhan, China, the virus has snaked across continents for two years, rising up in different epicenters, retreating, then reinventing itself in the form of more contagious variants.

Now as many parts of the world are relaxing their coronavirus restrictions, some parts of China seem like they're going back to square one.

On Saturday the mainland recorded the highest number of new daily cases since the pandemic began, triggering new rounds of mass testing in major cities, targeted lockdowns and some schools back to online learning.

In Hong Kong hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in the latest and most deadly wave of the virus there. There have been about 3,700 deaths in Hong Kong since 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with most of them in the last three weeks, though there are signs infections are peaking.

Photos on social media show body bags piling up inside a COVID-19 hospital ward. City officials say the high number of deaths is due to unvaccinated senior citizens and say they they've added more space to store the bodies.

There was a time two years ago Italy faced similar dire conditions. But it's almost like a bad dream the country is only now waking up from. Today, people walking mask-free outdoors and the Italian prime minister says they will soon end the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Hard-hit New York City, once the epicenter of the virus in the U.S., also rolling back its COVID-19 restrictions. No more mask mandates in schools and no more vaccine requirements in restaurants and gyms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My whole family of five had it, took six weeks to get better so -- but I'm generally happy. I think it's positive that we could all move in that direction.

NEWTON (voice-over): A world wounded and scarred, trying to get back to what it once was. But with more than 6 million people lost and the virus still on the move, there is really no telling how long this lull will last -- Paula Newton, CNN.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh. Oh, my God, oh, my God. Oh.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): That's a waterspout coming onshore in Florida Saturday, at least two tornadoes reported in the state. The storms were at the tail end of a strong winter storm system that has more than 25 million people across the southern U.S. under freeze warnings.

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BRUNHUBER: Now police in New York are looking for the suspect in a knife attack at the city's famous Museum of Modern Art. Authorities say a 60-year-old white male, a regular visitor at the museum, in fact, stabbed two employees in the neck, back and collarbone.

He had been denied entry because of two previous incidents of disorderly behavior at the museum. Police say he became angry, jumped the reception desk and stabbed the employees. Two victims were rushed to the hospital and, thankfully, are expected to survive. The museum says that it will be closed today following the attack.

All right. That's it for me. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues on "NEW DAY" with Jessica Dean and Boris Sanchez. You're watching CNN.