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U.S. Marines Confirm Four Marines Involved In NATO Training Mission Crash In Norway; Rescue Efforts Continue After Strike On Ukrainian Barracks; Russian Missile Blast In Kyiv, Absolute Scene Of Devastation; Austin: U.S. Won't Stand In Way Of Other Countries Sending Fighter Jets; Interview With Former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev; Ukrainian Photographer Document Russian Invasion Of His Country; Moderna Seeks Authorization For Second Booster For All Adults. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired March 19, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:41]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Thank you so much for joining me with this special CNN coverage.

New details are emerging about a tragic accident involving U.S. Marines. U.S. official confirmed four Marines were involved in an aircraft crash during a NATO exercise in Norway. The Norwegian prime minister says the servicemen were killed, but U.S. officials have not confirmed that.

And there are new developments in the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivering this urgent plea on a video message today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's time to meet, time to talk, time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine, or else Russia will face such losses that several generation will not be enough for it to rise back up.

Negotiations about peace, about security for us, security for Ukraine, substantial, honest one and without stalling are the only chance, the only chance for Russia to mitigate the damage inflicted by its own mistakes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Zelenskyy is talking about he and Putin meeting. This comes as Russia launches new missile strikes on Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine reportedly killing dozens of Ukrainian troops at a military base.

And there's also intense fighting in Mariupol in eastern Ukraine. A battle for control of a critical steel plant is ongoing.

And a desperate search for survivors continues at a Mariupol theater destroyed by Russian bombs earlier this week. President Zelenskyy says 130 people have been pulled from the rubble, but hundreds more may still be trapped.

Let's begin this hour with the breaking on that crash involving U.S. Marines. For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand. Natasha, what more are you learning?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Fred. So the U.S. Marine Corps did confirm that four U.S. Marines were involved in a training accident as their Osprey made its way to northern Norway to a town there just north of the Arctic Circle.

And this accident was part of a NATO kind of training exercise. They were conducting a mission there as part of that massive exercise that NATO holds pretty regularly. It involves around 30,000 troops, including thousands of U.S. Marines.

And what we're told based on the statement that have come out from the Norwegian authorities is that the weather was pretty bad. When rescue teams tried to reach the area, it was very difficult for them to get there because of heavy rain, heavy winds, and there was actually an avalanche warning as well. So all of that likely contributing to why the aircraft crashed.

Now, it is important to note, obviously, that the training exercise that these service members were taking part of is pretty regular. It's just something that NATO holds usually once every two years, but it was canceled in 2020 because of COVID.

And it's meant to demonstrate the NATO alliance's unity and capabilities in the face of Russian aggression. And of course, now, is probably the most important time that they're conducting that exercise given Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

But little is known right now about the service members who may have lost their lives. The U.S., of course, has not confirmed that. But the Norwegian prime minister did tweet that the service members had died in the accident.

The U.S. says that it would take about 24 hours for them to release any names, just notifying next of kin. But of course, this is going to leave a pretty grim mark on the rest of the occasion of the exercises. They're due to wrap up on April 1st, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much.

Rescue operations are still under way in the city of Mykolaiv after a Russian missile strike hit barracks housing Ukrainian soldiers.

Reporters from CNN's Swedish affiliate Expressen were at the scene and report dozens of troops were killed in the shelling. Expressen quotes a survivor as saying about 90 percent of the 200 soldiers there did not survive the attacks. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us live now from Lviv. Salma, have we heard more about the survivors? What happened exactly?

[11:04:58]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, Mykolaiv in the best of times over the course of the last two weeks, communication has been difficult to get out of that city, of course, it being under Russian bombardment, Russian encirclement, communications have largely been cut off. It's been very difficult to get news.

But we do know that rescue operations are under way right now. These were barracks that were bombed, we understand, Friday by five bombs dropped by two Russian fighter jets.

As you mentioned, dozens of troops are feared dead. Rescue workers trying to find the survivors in those barracks.

And this is a city, Mykolaiv, again, that has been the subject of heavy Russian artillery, heavy Russian shelling. It's right on the Black Sea, it's right at the crossroads.

So this is a really big hit against the Ukrainian military. Again, dozens of troops potentially dead. But it increases the fears in that city of Russia's ability to operate there and of whether or not Ukrainian forces can ever fight them back, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Salma, you're at a gym at Lviv University that's housing refugees there. What are you experiencing and seeing?

ABDELAZIZ: Yes. So let me just walk you around. Now you're going to notice that this area is a little bit empty because people have just gone into bomb shelters because of air raid sirens. But I'm going to let our cameraman, Dan, just pan you around here.

I'm in the local university. This is Lviv University. This is normally a gym where they would hold wrestling matches. As you can see it's been converted entirely to allow displaced families to stay here. You can see there's absolutely no privacy for anyone. All these beds lined up right beside each other.

I'm just going to kneel down to show you what kind of accommodations they have here. This is just a basic wood pallet you have right here and over a very thin, foam mattress and, of course, very thin bedding. This is far from comfortable for anyone yet families of course, have been staying here for weeks so far.

Many of them coming from some of most affected areas, Fredricka. Kherson, Kharkiv -- these are areas that have been under heavy Russian bombardment. And I've asked them, why are you still here? Have you not moved on to western Poland? What's the -- what's the plan?

And many of them are saying, look, we hope we can go back which seems very fantastical at this point, but people are just hoping that they'll be able to make it back to their homes. That's why they're staying in these accommodations with very basic belongings. People who fled with really nothing off -- nothing with them, honestly, other than what they could carry on their backs. They're reliant now on volunteers for help, for food, for aid, for assistance.

The mayor of Lviv was actually just here in this gym, we're told, just a couple of days ago to get a gauge of the understanding of what people need here and they're beginning to get more help, beginning to get more assistance. But the question is, Fredricka, for how long can these families live like this?

WHITFIELD: You know, but their journeys to get to that point have been so harrowing for so many, I'm sure in so many circumstances, they don't want to take the risk, you know, to resume those travels one more time with the conditions again deteriorating outside.

Salma Abdelaziz, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.

All right. Last hour I spoke with the mayor of Lviv and he made an appeal for the U.S. and its allies to consider enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ANDRIY SADOVYI, LVIV, UKRAINE: People in world must understand today Russia aggressor killed 120 Ukrainian children. This our children -- it is angle they close our sky. We need support from all countries. Russia aggressor every hour killed children, old people, and women.

Every hour, very, very important for us. You must understand this. I believe that this war, very short finish. But we must have power and I think all world support Ukraine and support our fight for independence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And as shelling continues near Kyiv, one of the Russian missiles was shot down by Ukrainian forces and landed in a northern suburb of the capital leaving a crater near a school and destroying nearby vehicles.

CNN's Sam Kiley was there and shows us the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the scene in Vynohradiv (ph), the northern edge of Kyiv where a cruise missile landed here in the small hours of the this morning.

Now officially, according to the authorities, it was shot down. Normally that would mean that the warhead was destroyed in the air. But clearly that is not the case.

[11:09:47]

KILEY: Beyond this truck here, beyond the JCB working, a kindergarten. Mercifully, no children in it. Because of the level of bombardment in Kyiv, because the kindergartens are closed. It is right opposite another school for older children.

But look at the ferocity of the blast. That is what remains of a vehicle right at the center -- the epicenter of this blast, absolute scene of devastation.

If we look over this way, you can see the extraordinary level of devastation in this very densely populated residential area. These are homes, humble homes, of ordinary Ukrainians. Struggling to get by, working with dignity, hoping one day to join the European community, possibly even NATO, and this from Vladimir Putin's perspective, is the result.

Now, if we walk over this way, you can see just how devastating the size of these weapons. It's quite extraordinary. This is the result of one single blast. A blast that has ripped through this community, peppering cars with shrapnel holes.

Every one of those would have torn through dozens of people. Every one of those bits of flying hot metal designed to rip into human flesh like a razor -- white hot and burning.

And of course, mercifully, no children playing in the kindergarten.

Sam Kiley, CNN -- in Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming up, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tells CNN the U.S. won't stand in the way of other countries sending fighter jets to Ukraine.

And later we'll talk to a former Russian foreign minister who says Putin is a sensitive man and doesn't really want to star a nuclear war.

[11:11:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy continues to ask for fighter jets to help battle Russian air power. While the U.S. has been reluctant to agree to be involved in handing over those fighter jets to Ukraine's military, in an exclusive interview with CNN, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. won't block other countries from providing military jets to Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: What other countries do, I mean, that's their choice, and the United States certainly does not stand in the way of other countries providing assistance.

But again, we're going to remain focused on those things that we know are making a difference, and what's making a difference in this fight for the Ukrainians is the provision of antiaircraft systems, the provision of anti-armor systems and also things that -- other things that have been effective are, you know, the employment of drones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With me now to talk more about this is Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's also a CNN military analyst.

Colonel, good to see you.

All right. So we know that, you know, Poland has offered to turn over some of its, you know, Russian planes to Ukraine. The U.S. kind of stepped in and said they didn't think that was advisable. But now you hear the SecDef saying it's ok if other countries do so.

So what does this signal to you? Is there already some plan to send you know, handing over already happening? Or why does the U.S. feel like it needs to remove itself from any participation?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think there's -- Fred, I think there's a big fear that if we would escalate the situation if we ended up being the ones to directly hand the Ukrainians airplanes, whether they're a former Soviet manufacturer or (AUDIO GAP) remember THAT when the Poles wanted to do this, they wanted to transfer their aircraft through Ramstein air base in Germany so that would have given them a direct U.S. connection to do this.

So everybody seems to want plausible deniability. No, I didn't hand over this airplane but in fact, yes, you know, we're kind of working toward that. But it's, you know, it's one of those political situations that has operational consequences.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like it is reasonable fear because -- I mean Putin is not going to agree to anything. And he seems to be using the terminology of escalation in any offer of assistance to Ukraine.

And at this point, does it really matter whether Putin thinks it's the actions of another nation that will escalate matters? Because there doesn't seem to be anything stopping him from escalating this invasion.

LEIGHTON: You know, you're absolutely right. No matter what we do or what anybody else does in support of Ukraine, he's going to see that as a potential provocation.

So from my standpoint, you know, the most important thing to consider is not what Putin wants or what -- how Putin is going to react. But what is the operational effectiveness going to be of, you know, whatever we end up providing the Ukrainians and that is the most important thing. Putin's reaction is secondary because we can generally mitigate whatever he's going to do.

WHITFIELD: So reportedly there -- already happening are clandestine military equipment handoffs over the Polish border. Would it be your estimation the U.S. is involved in that and just doesn't want to say it out loud? LEIGHTON: That would be a good educated guess. I think that, you know,

it's in our national interest and we've basically said, when you look at what the president has said, what the secretary of defense has said and the secretary of state, it's very clear that what they're looking at is providing as much war material as they possibly can to the Ukrainians. And they will use whatever means that make sense both operationally and tactically to do that.

[11:19:59]

LEIGHTON: So yes, I think things are happening. I think there are several other countries involved in this. And there's a lot that NATO is doing as a whole that is -- you know, that serves to provide the Ukrainians with a resupply line of some pretty substantial means that will have -- and already has had a profound effect on the battlefield.

WHITFIELD: What's your point of view or even concerns about Russia using long-range missiles now because it has found that after underestimating Ukrainian forces, it's run into a lot of obstacles in Ukraine to carry out its strategy?

LEIGHTON: Yes, so the Ukrainians are obviously not welcoming the Russians with bread and salt, the traditional greeting for people coming into, you know, as guests into a country.

And so because that's a fact, the Russians have decided that they need to up their game, in essence. And what they're doing is, they are pounding areas into submission like Mariupol. Kyiv, they're trying to do that, although there's obviously some changes in the battle space around Kyiv at the moment.

But what they're -- what the Russians are concerned about is they want to advance as much as they can. They really don't care how much they destroy. And I think that is my biggest concern, that the infrastructure that existed in Ukraine before the invasion is going to be severely damaged.

Of course, many people are going to lose their lives and that tragedy is something that the Russians are going to have to answer for. So the loss of life, the loss of damage to property and the destruction to the Ukrainian state are the main concerns that I see here. And the Russians are not going to stop at anything until something or someone stops them.

WHITFIELD: Do you think it's potentially promising that the Ukrainian president says there ought to be face-to-face meetings, a meeting, at least, between he and Putin?

LEIGHTON: Well, there's always a risk in meeting with Putin. I don't think Putin will agree to a meeting at this point with Zelenskyy. But it's certainly a wise thing for Zelenskyy to at least offer that because it makes him appear as being very reasonable in comparison to what the Russian forces are doing.

So the Ukrainians are basically offering -- I wouldn't call it an olive branch, but at least the possibility of talks at the highest levels and the Russians are in a situation where their military success is not assured.

In fact, the likelihood of there being a lot of difficulties in achieving their goals is very high. And I think they will find themselves at a loss if they're not careful.

WHITFIELD: And I use that terminology "face to face" loosely. It really is more like leader to leader. And we don't know what form or fashion it could ever potentially happen.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Fredricka, any time.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, U.S. officials say Russia has used brutal, savage techniques in the way it has targeted civilians in Ukraine. How far is Putin willing to go? We will ask a former Russian foreign minister who knows his tactics well.

[11:23:22]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says Russian president Vladimir Putin remains the one person who can end this war right now.

Here's what Lloyd Austin said in this exclusive interview with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN: We're here because of his decision to launch this attack. He can make a decision today to end this and seek a diplomatic solution. He's had a number of opportunities along the way. He has opportunities today to decide to do something different. This is not going well for him on the battlefield.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Russia has been widening its attacks in Ukraine, including missile strikes on Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine where dozens of Ukrainian troops were reportedly killed during a hit on a military base.

Let's talk more about Putin's mind set with Andre Kozyrev, a former Russian foreign minister under Boris Yeltsin, and the author of "The Firebird: The Elusive Fate Of Russian Democracy". So good to see you, Minister Kozyrev.

So the U.S. and its NATO allies say they want to avoid a direct conflict with Russia, a nuclear power. You maintain that Putin is a sensitive man, I'm quoting you now from an interview I saw previous to this one, "One who loves life too much to want to really start a nuclear war." Why do you say that about him?

ANDREI KOZYREV, FORMER RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER UNDER BORIS YELTSIN: Well, it's so -- it's not any kind of inside information necessarily (INAUDIBLE). Because Putin is about the age of my daughter and this is evidently (INAUDIBLE) -- in fact goes to a pool every morning and he watches his diet and he likes to pose himself as a great international kind of (INAUDIBLE) western limitations and their (INAUDIBLE).

[11:29:55]

KOZYREV: He elegantly enjoys life. He does not (INAUDIBLE) -- though he's brazen enough to test NATO and Ukraine all over the place. He will go as far as (INAUDIBLE) that's as simple as that.

WHITFIELD: Minister Kozyrev, I really want to talk further with you, but our audio is so terrible right now that it's really difficult to understand all that's being said.

So we're going to try and reconnect at another time, if not today, then another day. So let's try and do that because I really want to hear more of your thoughts about the mind of Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Minister, thank you so much for your time for now though. We're going to try this again, I promise.

All right. Still ahead, images of war. You will hear from a photographer about what it's like to capture the horrors of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

[11:31:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Before the break I promised we were going to try again to talk to a former Russian foreign minister under Russia's Boris Yeltsin again. And we are getting a better connection.

So back with us, Andre Kozyrev. So glad you could hang in there with us, Mr. Minister.

So I'm going to ask you that first question one more time. I know your answer was very eloquent and detailed. But one more time, why is it you have said -- and I heard you in a previous interview -- that Vladimir Putin is actually a sensitive man and he would not want a nuclear war because he loves life too much.

Help convince the world why we should consider him a sensitive man when all of these innocent people are being killed in Ukraine?

KOZYREV: Yes. I understand. And he's crazy like a fox, really a fox. And that means that he will go on with all this barbaric war as long as he's not stoked (ph) by the Ukrainian military and NATO firms. But of course he's not suicidal and he enjoys life. It's evident he's an organizer. He's (INAUDIBLE) Moscow's approval rumors about that.

And he has two daughters of the age of my daughter and I don't believe that he wants to risk their lives, especially since around him people have their families, their mistresses and their friends all in the NATO zone to be with (INAUDIBLE). Some in America, some in France, many in London. And had the nuclear war been unleashed, those people will be just burned out. So I don't think they want a World War.

WHITFIELD: It's still difficult to be empathetic for a Putin. Help people understand why it is that it's Putin -- his motivation is that he feels threatened by the European culture, that Ukraine wants to be a part of the European Union and that so upsets Putin that he wants to eliminate the people of Ukraine and invade that land. What is his goal?

KOZYREV: Well, it's evident. Ukraine -- Ukrainians are our brothers and sisters, I mean Russian brothers and sisters. And if those brothers and sisters go closer to the western standards of culture of life, of democracy, of freedom, then their dictatorship in Moscow imposed on Russian people would be crumbling because Russian people will look at their siblings so to say -- and will say, hey, what happens there?

If they can achieve all that, we can too. So he has -- he wants to stop it by all means, by barbaric means including -- and he does a lot now to close the Russia. It's like new Iron Curtain.

He wants to silence people inside Russia and deafen these people so that they don't hear, make them blind to what happens outside. But Ukraine is closed to be curtained.

WHITFIELD: And blinding people like ending independent journalism, punishing and jailing journalists.

But then I want to see that picture again of Putin in the stadium. You've seen the images if you can't see it right now, in this stadium, and these thousands of people who have filled the stadium.

[11:39:59]

WHITFIELD: Are they all brainwashed? Is it that they all are in agreement with Putin? Or is there some other motivation for being there in these numbers, waving the flag and cheering on Putin in the middle of this invasion?

KOZYREV: You know, according to sources from Russia, many of them disagree, many. But they are either intimidated and that's his strategy. His strategy towards the west, his strategy towards the Ukraine and his strategy towards the Russian people proper is to intimidate.

So he -- they are intimidated, some of them though are paid for that and some of them, probably considerable amount of them are really brainwashed. That's why the sanctions, even if they hit the population, are important because it should be a wakeup call, sometimes -- some kind of shock therapy for those people to wake up to what really is happening.

WHITFIELD: Extraordinary. Former Russian foreign minister Andre Kozyrev, so glad we reconnected again. Thank you so much for hanging in there with us and giving it another go.

KOZYREV: Thank you. WHITFIELD: I appreciate your insight and your experiences. Thank you.

KOZYREV: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, the images have been extraordinary. Just the world is watching this Russian invasion and it's images like this, this relentless destruction of buildings, streets decimated, people scrambling amid rubble. All of this allowing the pain from afar being felt closer to home.

It's in all of our living rooms as a result of extraordinary work and images coming from photographers and journalists who are risking their lives for all of this.

"Time" correspondent Simon Shuster and "Time" photographer Maxim Dondyuk joining me right now.

Simon, you and I spoke last week. You were in an ambulance on your way to Ukraine and you were with people who were volunteering, also putting their lives on the line to help out people, provide medical assistance.

Now I understand you are back stateside, is that right?

SIMON SHUSTER, CORRESPONDENT, "TIME MAGAZINE": That's right. I'm back in New York, you know. I Just got back a couple days ago.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Give me, you know, some of your impressions since last we spoke, what you experienced, saw and how you've been able to tell these stories.

SHUSTER: Well, the good news is, the convoy of aid that I was with made it to Kyiv and a lot of the aid went to a hospital in Kyiv. The medical aid that was in the ambulance that we were driving made it there and the doctors were very grateful for that.

I spent most of the trip around the border between Poland and Ukraine, which has become this kind of lifeline, a massive river of aid including a lot of American military aid.

I mean, you know, we see these headlines about President Biden approving another package of aid as he did I think just a couple of days ago, another one worth close to a billion dollars. But it's just hard to fathom until you see it, how much military hardware we're talking about.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And what did you notice -- what did you notice in terms of how it's being distributed or the obstacles of distribution?

SHUSTER: Well, it's very hard and tragic. So Russia, while I was in the city of Lviv and traveling around western Ukraine, bombed a base -- an international support base in western Ukraine. I was sort of passing by there the day that the bombing happened. And that base was being used to essentially collect and redistribute military aid and actually foreign volunteers, foreign fighters who are coming to Ukraine in large numbers, by the thousands, to volunteer to fight and help Ukraine defend itself.

So that was sort of Russia's response to the aid coming in. It was a big and very dangerous signal, I think, to the west. But since that happened, the west has continued to send more aid, the aid has continued to flow in, and be redistributed within Ukraine, which is a big logistical challenge. So far, Ukrainians are handling it well.

WHITFIELD: Maxim, let's take a look at your picture, right here, one of many. This one, a father with a young child in his arms running. Others behind him appearing to scramble for safety. People falling to the ground.

I mean what was going on there? How were you able to capture this moment?

MAXIM DONDYUK, PHOTOGRAPHER, TIME MAGAZINE: Well Fredricka, thank you for inviting me here to speak about picture where we saw people on the ground. Yes, correct.

[11:44:56]

WHITFIELD: Yes. I see the -- it looks like one on the ground and then one falling and another man holding a child running.

(CROSSTALK)

DONDYUK: Yes, it was of a crash in (INAUDIBLE) in Bucha to Kyiv. And it was destroyed bridge, huge bridge. And people tried to go through this bridge because even during mortar shelling, people tried to go through the bridge because inside of Kyiv was more danger for people. People say that the soldiers just sometimes try to kill civilians.

So even this (INAUDIBLE) -- even I was wounded maybe 20 minutes before this picture in the bridge. And after I also tried to come back to my car with some group of -- again, mortar shelling happening and people and me even just on the ground. And after I stayed, take a picture, and all the time because it looks like -- because so (INAUDIBLE) -- and it was like they try to kill citizen because there are now soldiers, only citizens try to go through this bridge and people -- and Russian soldiers, Russian army, all the time it was mortar all shelling.

Every maybe 15 minutes, 15 minutes. So it's the situation, people try to go to a safer place.

WHITFIELD: I mean Maxim, that you're also describing, here you are capturing these moments of people's lives in peril, and you too were injured. And you were actually quoted in an article saying, you know, I don't -- and I'm quoting you, "I don't stay here to do this because I'm a masochist. I do it because sometimes a photo can change people, change societies."

And I think it would be wonderful for you to explain to people how it is you're able to -- what's your motivation to continue to do a very dangerous line of a work and at the same time you're in harm's way and then you're watching people.

You have to almost hold yourself back sometimes from trying to save others while you're also capturing a real moment in time because that is a powerful moment that could help change the magnitude of what's happening.

DONDYUK: Yes. But firstly, it's my country. I'm not come here just to cover it. I live here. And it's my country and it's my city. And I try to show the whole war. How (INAUDIBLE) it's just ordinary people. Ordinary people who just live and think about occasion or (INAUDIBLE) I don't know, something else.

And now I try to show people how Russian army and Russian propaganda destroy the European country, destroys the family, killed a lot of young women, children, soldier and the whole country tried to protect, tried to resist.

So my camera is my weapon. I chose not to go to the front line with some weapons, but I try to show how crooked (ph) -- try to fight this Russian propaganda through my pictures.

WHITFIELD: It's your weapon, it's your armor, you know, and this is your country. So your heart is in it too, it's clear on that.

Maxim Dondyuk, Simon Shuster, thanks to both of you. I appreciate the work that you continue to do.

SHUSTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

[11:48:11]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Moderna is now seeking emergency use authorization for an additional COVID booster shot but unlike Pfizer and BioNTech which are only seeking another dose for people over 65, Moderna wants approval for all adults to get a fourth shot.

It comes as doctors warn a new variant emerging overseas could still lead to an increase in cases in the U.S. over the next few weeks.

CNN'S Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: COVID cases in western Europe are ticking up yet again. This week, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands saw cases jump nearly 50 percent over the week before. Though t U.K.'s roughly 55,000 new cases a day is only a fraction of what the country experienced during a previous COVID peak.

And on Sunday, Germany will begin lifting most COVID measures in spite of new cases hitting a record seven-day high. More than 1,700 in that country.

The rising cases abroad has the attention of American health experts who are asking if COVID statistics overseas may offer a preview of what's to come for the United States.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Throughout this pandemic, we have followed the United Kingdom and western Europe by about three weeks. So what happens there particularly happens here.

SANDOVAL: Dr. Jonathan Reiner interprets COVID upticks elsewhere as a clear sign that the virus is coming back.

DR. REINER: What they're seeing is not a sort of resurgence of the original BA-1 Omicron variant. what they're seeing is a second peak now of BA-2, the more transmissible variant.

And that is now slowly starting to rise in the United States and I expect that we will see pretty definitive evidence of an increase in cases in the United States probably by the end of this month.

SANDOVAL: Other health experts caution the U.S. may not be as prepared for a potential BA-2 variant surge. In the U.K., 86 percent of eligible people are fully vaccinated with 67 percent boosted. Those figures significantly lower in the U.S.

[11:54:57]

SANDOVAL: White House officials also detail this week that COVID-19 relief funding from the American Rescue Plan is running out. Officials say more funds would be critical if a second booster shot is required.

On Thursday, Moderna announced that it could seek FDA approval for a second booster shot for all adults.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Going back abroad, this week mainland China confirmed its two COVID deaths, the first in over a year. That's certainly significant as that country tries to grapple with the pandemic and here and implementing some pretty strict measure again even restricting people in certain province from traveling throughout the region.

And that Fred, is really what's fueling concerns here in the U.S. among health officials which you just heard in that piece. But as we heard from Dr. Anthony Fauci this week, it's not necessarily an increase in hospitalizations or deaths, but just in positive cases, period.

WHITFIELD: Right. Lots of signs of encouragement.

SANDOVAL: Right.

WHITFIELD: That is good. That is hopeful, but not totally out of the woods just yet.

SANDOVAL: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

SANDOVAL: Thanks Fred.

WHITFIELD: And we're back in a moment.

[11:55:52]

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