Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Scores of Children Evacuated from Orphanage in Sumy; Dozens Likely Killed in Strike on Mykolaiv Barracks; U.N. Says over 1.5 Million Children Have Fled Ukraine; U.K. Prime Minister Says Putin in "Total Panic" over Democracy; Russian Foreign Minister Says Security Guarantees Must Be Met; Russia Launched Hypersonic Missiles against Ukraine; Ukraine Says Fifth Russian General Killed; Ukrainians Fearful of Russian Operatives among Them; U.S. Health Officials Monitoring Rising COVID-19 Cases in Europe; Composer's Kyiv Studio Is Also a Bomb Shelter. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 20, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and also in the United States this hour, I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv in Ukraine.
A safe escape for dozens of children trapped by the fighting in this country. We're now learning that 71 children from an orphanage in the northeastern city of Sumy have been evacuated safely.
Officials say the children, many of whom are disabled or have special needs, are all under the age of 4. And they had spent two weeks in a basement, sheltering from Russian attacks.
The conflict, though, is showing no signs of slowing down, unfortunately. Ukrainian officials say another Russian general was killed last week amid fierce fighting near Kherson in southern Ukraine. CNN can't independently verify those claims.
On Saturday, officials in the U.S. did confirm that Russia launched hypersonic missiles, ones similar to what you see here, against Ukraine. Russia says they were used to target an ammunitions warehouse Friday.
Now this is significant, because it would be the first time we know of that hypersonic missiles have been used in combat. And yet, a new report from British intelligence says Russian forces still have not managed to gain air superiority over Ukraine.
And meanwhile, officials in the southern port city of Mariupol say Russian troops are taking residents to Russia against their will. The city council says thousands have illegally been taken to camps and some moved to remote cities in Russia. This comes as Mariupol now faces almost constant bombardment. Also, we
have new satellite images to show you that reveal the devastation after the city's theater was bombed Wednesday.
Officials believe hundreds of people were taking shelter inside this building when the attack hit and despite Russia's relentless assault, Ukraine's president says his people will continue to fight for their country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukrainians have proven that they can fight more professionally than an army that has been waging wars for decades in various regions and conditions. We respond with wisdom and courage to the great number of their equipment and soldiers sent to Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So another development in southern Ukraine, officials believe dozens of soldiers were killed after a Russian strike on their military barracks. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports from Mykolaiv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: What we do know is still relatively slight.
I'm hearing from Ukrainian officials that certainly 20, possibly 30 or 40 soldiers' lives may have been lost in this startlingly devastating explosion at two separate military buildings, quite close to the city center of Mykolaiv, where I'm standing.
One of those buildings torn, frankly, in two, by the blast; another reduced to rubble. We met some of the soldiers who were injured in that devastating series of blasts in hospital, bewildered, one man lying there reciting the names of his friends, asking how they were; another man whose legs had been heavily damaged, reduced to tears.
This is a military target, certainly. But that doesn't reduce the human tragedy of those killed or injured there. We understand the injuries may be close to 40 as well.
And this is, I say, a military target but a sign, again, of what we're seeing now as a pattern of Russia's behavior across the country, using heavy weapons, often guided missiles at this stage in the conflict, to exact a heavy price against targets, this one military.
But so often across the country and here in Mykolaiv, it's been civilian targets that have been pounded by rockets. And we've seen, in some of the residential complexes here, the damage that is done.
But that is despite the fact that Russia appears, certainly here around Mykolaiv, to be losing ground against Ukrainian forces. And we've seen that along the main road from here, Mykolaiv, down to Kherson, which was the first city Russia captured and remains really the only city Russia has held.
But still, against that, Ukrainian forces are pushing back, down the road away from here, Mykolaiv. So there's two elements of this war, a persistent pattern on the ground that Russia is not gaining terrain; in fact, finding itself at a stalemate or, even around here, losing part of the terrain it thought it had gained.
[01:05:00]
WALSH: But at the same time, they are exacting a vengeful cost through heavy weapons, sometimes against military targets; so much of the time, against civilian targets. And here in Mykolaiv, causing utter devastation, so close to the heart of the city -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, the United Nations says nearly 850 civilians have been killed and about 1,400 more have been injured in Russia's war on Ukraine. And they fear those numbers will climb much higher as the fight fighting continues. Survivors are telling us about the horrors they've seen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): On the 12th, 13th and 14th, there were constant airstrikes. We were all sitting in the cellar. From explosions on houses nearby, the windows were shattered. The residents went to their cellars.
Those who could do so left the city. But a lot of cars were bombed and they burned down, so those people couldn't leave. There were lots of people dying on the streets. Dead bodies were lying in the streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Some residents of Mariupol have managed to escape the city and join the millions of refugees inside and outside the country. Melissa Bell has a report now from Poland, where at least 2 million people have sought refuge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than three weeks into this war and still train stations like this one at the Polish-Ukrainian border continue to see a steady trickle of mainly women and children making their way across the border. And the stories that you hear in train stations like this one are quite extraordinary.
First of all, just to show you a little bit, even late at night, what is going on, (INAUDIBLE) volunteers that have come from places like this, they will give toys to the children that arrive, try and organize the temporary accommodation of the refugees, who will often be taken to a school gymnasium or somewhere, where beds have been set up, at least for a night or two, until they can find something more permanent. But the strain on a town like this one of some 60,000 people and all
these refugees that have been coming through now for more than three weeks, again, mainly women and children.
Down that hallway, all the people who don't get priority for some of the beds that have been set up inside this train station, the strain on a community like this one, quite extraordinary.
And what we have seen over and over again are extraordinary acts of kindness, generosity, volunteers that have gone out of their way, either to work in places like this train station or further afield, to accommodate refugees in their homes.
And perhaps, you can see, once they leave the train station, it is toward those buses that they head, that will take them to often that temporary accommodation. And it is amidst the scale I think really easy to forget the individual tragedies, the scale of what people have been through.
We have been hearing stories of people fleeing. One woman, who told us earlier on of leaving the town of Sumy, one of those areas that have been particularly hard-hit. She was traveling with her cats, her mother.
The grandmother had been left behind and it was as much the fear for what was still going on back home as it was the uncertainty of what lay ahead -- Melissa Bell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: One of the most heartbreaking aspects of all of this brutality is the effect on the most innocent and the youngest. The U.N. says more than 1.5 million children have fled Ukraine since the fighting began or been displaced. Earlier this week, U.N. spokesperson James Elder explained just how quickly that refugee math adds up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES ELDER, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: Fifty-five children per minute, so almost one per second, that is the fastest in terms of swiftness and scale, in terms of swiftness and scale, the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, Joe English is a spokesperson for UNICEF. He's been working in the country and joining me now live in Lviv.
We just heard an air raid siren and you went into the shelter. We're adults; we can kind of sort of mentally, psychologically handle it. But kids here have to do the same thing every day, almost.
JOE ENGLISH, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: They do. Thank you so much for having me, Hala. Just behind us, we have a park. Every day, there are kids out there,
playing on the swings, walking their dogs, doing all the things you would expect kids to do anywhere in the world.
And then that siren goes off and they know just what to do. They stop, find their parents and they go into the bunker, which is just 100 yards from the park. And these are things that kids shouldn't have to know what to do.
And as you say, the numbers are just staggering. More than 1.5 million children who fled the country, more than 3.3 million who are displaced in the country, more than 50 killed, more than 60 injured. And each is an individual child, whose life has been torn apart, whose world has been turned upside down.
GORANI: Talk to us for what this means for a child that was just in school three, four weeks ago and now on the run, in a foreign country, they don't know the language.
[01:10:00]
GORANI: Probably separated from their brothers and fathers.
What's that like for these --
(CROSSTALK)
ENGLISH: Yes, there's two impacts. There's the psychological impact, as you say, just having everything you've ever known taken away from you.
There's also the risk that children may become separated from their parents or caregivers and that raises the risk of child trafficking, exploitation and abuse. So it's critical that organizations like UNICEF, in the refugee facing countries, we're working with UNHCR and local authorities to set up blue dot centers, which are effectively one-stop shops, where it's a safe space for children and for parents to play, to color in.
But they're also where we can have psychologists, counselors, legal experts, to provide all those services they're going to need, not just now but also into the future.
GORANI: Tell us about those kids, who are -- that UNICEF is assisting.
What are some of the things, what are some of their basic initial needs, once they're able to flee the fighting?
What do you find?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly. I've been at the children's hospital here in Lviv for the past couple of days. And the stories -- I mean, it's hard to see. You know, there was a young boy, who is 9 years old, who has T-cell leukemia. He needs dedicated treatment that he can't receive here in the middle of the war. So thankfully he was evacuated yesterday to Poland. So there's very
special needs. But then also we've been delivering toys into Kharkiv for kids who have been inside shelters in the metro system for weeks.
GORANI: Yes.
ENGLISH: And providing not only the basics of life -- water, food, shelter -- but also that opportunity to just experience a semblance of a normal childhood is absolutely critical.
GORANI: Yes. My question is always about the longer term, because we've all covered the Syrian war, the refugee crisis, whether it's Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq. And for a few months, you always find that people can kind of manage, psychologically. They think, well, for a few months, we'll be away and then we'll go back.
But then sometimes the conflict drags on; in the case of Syria, for more than 10 years.
How do you deal -- how do kids deal with this?
Because in some cases, they -- they're out of school for a very long time.
ENGLISH: Yes. I mean, all around the world, children have dealt with more than two years of disruption to their education because of COVID. And in Ukraine, you know, we talk about three weeks of war.
For children in the east, it's been more than eight years. So what's critical is making sure that, as soon as it is safe, children are able to get back into the classroom, back to learning.
But no parent is going to send their kid to school when there's a risk of them not coming home at the end of the day. And we continue to see schools, hospitals, homes, the places where children are meant to be kept safe, coming under attack.
And so, the long-term challenges are going to be -- I mean, they're going to be momentous. We need international cooperation, solidarity.
GORANI: I was going to ask you, what needs to be done?
And people feel helpless watching this, thinking, I'm sitting here at home, I'm safe, my kids are safe.
What can I do?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly. Organizations like UNICEF, our humanitarian funding from governments and individuals is critical. It allows us not only to be here as soon as a crisis may start but also to prepare to be here in advance.
We've been in Ukraine for 25 years. We'll be here throughout this crisis. And we'll be here long after, you know, the guns have fallen silent so we can help children and families rebuild their lives. But also refugee resettlement, each and every country needs to step up
and do their fair share and provide safe and legal routes for families, who are fleeing these horrors.
GORANI: What about your staff in parts of the country, where the conflict is raging?
ENGLISH: Yes, certainly, I mean, the stories that we're hearing, we've all seen the images, as well, out of Mariupol, out of Kharkiv. And I mean, I've heard it described as apocalyptic. I've heard it described as hell on Earth.
And there's almost not words strong enough, really, to describe what people are going through. We heard reports, anecdotal; we haven't been able to verify them, but of a little girl dying of dehydration in Mariupol. And this is the 21st century.
These are not --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: And we're -- I've also heard reports of people having to melt snow for drinking water because the city is besieged.
ENGLISH: Yes. Completely. And we are ready to go. We've delivered or we have in transit, I think, 85 trucks, 850 tons of materials going out all across the country. Kharkiv, the first U.N. humanitarian convoy went to Sumy on Friday morning.
GORANI: What about access, though?
ENGLISH: That's it. We can't get into Mariupol at the moment. And the situation there is absolutely devastating. We need humanitarian corridors, not just so people can get out but also we can get in to reach the most vulnerable, who may not be able to leave.
GORANI: Absolutely. Joe English, thank you so much for joining us.
ENGLISH: Thank you.
GORANI: And good luck to your teams on the ground.
Russia's foreign minister lays out exactly what Russia wants to see before it ends the war. After the break, we'll look at their demands and what the rest of the world is doing to try to bring peace or, at least, a cease-fire, to Ukraine. We'll be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GORANI: Well, one of the overriding questions about this whole war has been, from the beginning, why would President Putin invade?
Among his explanations was that Ukraine would join NATO, which he framed as some sort of existential threat to his country. But the British prime minister Boris Johnson now claims there's more to this story. He says Putin's real concern was that Russians could take a cue from Ukrainians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: He has been terrified of the effect of that Ukrainian model on him and on Russia. And he's been in a total panic about a so-called color revolution in Moscow itself.
And that's why he is trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine. And that's why it is so vital that he fails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, Johnson made the comments at a Conservative Party conference in the U.K.
Now regardless of why Mr. Putin invaded, the question remains, how does the world get him to stop?
His foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, says, however it ends, Russia needs a guarantee that its demands are met.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): After our operation in Ukraine ends -- and I hope it ends with the signing of a comprehensive agreement on the issues I mentioned, security issues -- Ukraine's neutral status with the guarantees of its security, as the president a couple of months ago, as I recall, commented on our initiative of nonexpansion of NATO.
[01:20:00]
LAVROV (through translator): He said he would understand every country needs guarantees of its security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, Turkey's foreign minister believes such a security agreement is possible. He says Ukraine suggested Turkey and Germany act as guarantors of such a deal. He adds Russia wasn't entirely opposed to it. In addition, the foreign minister believes Turkey could broker a meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
Meanwhile, the leaders of France and Germany are taking their pleas for a cease-fire directly to the Russian president, as part of a slew of diplomatic efforts by Europe to try to bring peace to Ukraine. Natasha Bertrand is in Brussels with those details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The French president and the German chancellor spoke to Vladimir Putin on Friday and implored him to implement a cease-fire in Ukraine and open up the humanitarian corridors to allow people to escape safely.
Now it remains unclear if Vladimir Putin actually will heed their calls. Of course, the Russian invasion has only gotten more and more brutal over the last several weeks, as Russia has faced challenges trying to achieve its military objectives in Ukraine, including taking key cities there, including the city of Kyiv.
And, of course, the sanctions that have imposed over the last several weeks have not deterred Putin, either. The U.S. is now warning, in fact, that Putin could actually escalate even further and potentially stage a false flag attack on Ukraine that involves chemical weapons. That's what secretary of state Antony Blinken warned of last week.
So there's little optimism here by the U.S. and European officials that Russian president Vladimir Putin will take any kind of diplomatic off-ramp that they offer.
In fact, one Western intelligence official told us last week that, despite the massive Russian losses they have incurred, the thousands of soldiers that have died over the last month of the invasion, they still assess that Putin is determined to take the entire country of Ukraine -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Brussels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Now President Zelenskyy has warned his people about possible Russian saboteurs. But in a country filled with so many Russian speakers, it's not always obvious who is potentially dangerous and who is not. That story is ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:25:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GORANI: Welcome back, I'm Hala Gorani live in Lviv.
With Russia's advance into Ukraine slowed to a crawl by a pretty fierce resistance, the Russian military has now unleashed a terrifying new weapon onto the battlefield. The U.S. now confirms that Russia struck Western Ukraine with hypersonic missiles, similar to what you see on your screen.
Russia says it targeted an ammunitions warehouse.
Why is this significant?
Well, these missiles can fly very low and very, very fast, making them almost impossible to defend against. Now also Ukraine says a fifth Russian general was killed last week in
southern Ukraine. CNN can't verify the claim but, according to the Ukrainian military, the general died in fierce fighting when Ukrainian troops attacked Russian forces occupying an airfield near the city of Kherson.
And in some hopeful news from Eastern Ukraine -- and, boy, do we need it -- a local official says 71 orphans, all under the age of 4 and many with special needs, were safely evacuated from a care home in the town of Sumy. They were brought out by a humanitarian corridor after spending some two weeks in bomb shelters.
Some will stay in Kyiv for now and others will go to the West in Lviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton joins me now from Washington, D.C., with more analysis.
These hypersonic missiles, why do you think Russia is using them now?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hala, I think the report that Kylie just gave us is on the mark. I think they are trying to send a message.
The Russians, you know, not only wanted us to know about them when they first unveiled them a year or so ago but they also wanted to prove that they could use them in combat.
And this is very important because they wanted also to see how we would respond in terms of our radars and our intelligence collection capabilities and to see whether or not we could divine that they had used them.
So this is one of those critical junctures in development of weapons, where something new has come to the battlefield. And we have to see now how effective it actually was.
GORANI: And how effective was it?
Can we assess that?
LEIGHTON: Well, we can tell, based on, you know, whether or not it hit the intended target. And it appears to have done so. So not only is it a fast munition, hypersonic ammunition, but it is also apparently an accurate munition.
And that is worrisome because what it means is that, you know, if we don't have the right defenses against something like this, we could be quite vulnerable.
Now the fact that we were able to track this weapon as it was being deployed and as it was in flight to the target shows that, you know, we can at least detect it. Now we have to figure out if there are mechanisms to shoot it down or to at least make it where it's safe in that case. So that's I think the big issue here.
GORANI: Sam Kiley was reporting that the Russians seem to be using more often longer-range missiles in the last 24 or 48 hours than artillery, which suggests that they are either taking losses in terms of their artillery or ground troops or just want to stop the type of troop losses that we've been reporting in the thousands.
What do you make of what they are doing?
And the potential effectiveness of switching to that type of weaponry at this juncture?
LEIGHTON: So this is interesting because artillery is generally a shorter-range weapon than long-range missiles are. And it shows that, you know, perhaps the Russians are not as close in to Kyiv as they once were.
[01:30:00]
LEIGHTON: That could be good for the Ukrainians.
But the fact that they are using longer-range weapons, that means that they are setting the stage and have really begun the process of shelling the city for a long period of time. What they want to do is, in essence, take everything out, make it uninhabitable and then come in and take over the ruins.
So that's what their strategy is. It's a gruesome strategy but that is something that they have practiced for a long time, if you look at what happened in Grozny and even before that. These are the kinds of things that they do in their -- in their doctrine. So it means that they are preparing for a long effort to go in and take these cities.
GORANI: Well, what's the point ultimately?
I mean, they thought it would be quick. They thought that they could install a puppet government quickly. It didn't happen.
But what is the point of eventually, you know, bombing and striking a population into reluctant submission and then trying to occupy a city of 3 million, where really pretty much no one wants you there?
How is that, in any way, a quote-unquote "victory" for the Russian side?
LEIGHTON: Well, I think it would be a pyrrhic victory for them, Hala. I think it would be -- it's a very bad move on their part for a variety of reasons. But from a strictly military perspective, it is a -- you know, a very counterproductive strategy because it damages the entire infrastructure of the target.
And the country that you occupy should be one that you want to make work for you, once the combat operations have finished. That is not going to happen in this case, no matter how much territory they even temporarily occupy. They will never be able to completely subjugate Ukraine. And that is something that I think they are making a very big mistake
in.
GORANI: We are hearing the Western part of the country, where there was an air raid siren that went off around 5:30 in the morning. We hear one pretty much every night and we know that the Russians targeted a -- an aircraft repair facility a few days ago.
They really have to block or at least try to block these supplies coming from the West and supplying troops in the east and in the south and in and around Kyiv.
And do they have the -- I guess, do they have the resources to continue a fight on that level in a country this size over the longer term, since you were talking about the fact that striking with missiles meant they were probably hunkering down for the long term?
LEIGHTON: They really don't, Hala.
You know, when you look at the number of soldiers that they have in place, you know, around 190,000 or so, probably augmented, you know, with few reinforcements in the next few weeks, I would say that they don't have the capacity to permanently occupy anything in Ukraine, except for a few enclaves that they have already taken.
And many of those, they already took in 2014. So this is, you know, I think for them, a very dangerous strategy, because it is not allowing them to not only take this territory and keep it permanently but it's also creating a problem where they are going to have very great difficulty holding it.
And in terms of interdicting the supply lines, they are going to try to do that. That's going to be one thing that they can try to do, to keep the Ukrainians from fighting to the end. And that is something that I think will not be successful, unless they do something completely different and completely unforeseen.
GORANI: All right. Thank you so much, Cedric Leighton, for joining us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, with the war now in its fourth week, Ukrainians are fearful of potential Russian saboteurs on their soil and even asking people to show their papers on the street to make sure that it's not a Russian person, trying to create havoc in any way.
But in a country where many people actually speak Russian, it's not always obvious to tell if they are friend or if they are foe. Scott McLean has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Days after the invasion began, this Lviv office was set up to help Ukrainians fleeing war. But not everyone who comes here is welcome. Shortly after we arrived, the man we're filming draws suspicion from staff. They tell us he has links to Russia. Police are called, documents are checked, questions are asked, more than an hour passes and then tells us his only link to Russia was a five-year-old passport stamp. They let him go.
MCLEAN: Even here in Lviv, a city that is far remote from the front lines we've had the police called on us twice.
[01:35:00]
MCLEAN: We've been asked to show our documents more times than I can count.
And some people even say that random ordinary citizens are asking total strangers to produce identification. But if somebody asked you for your identification or your passport, you wouldn't think it was weird.
ANATOLII HRYHORIV, LVIV RESIDENT: I wouldn't think -- for now I wouldn't think.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Anatolii Hryhoriv says two weeks ago he was walking home after sheltering in this bunker during an air raid alert.
MCLEAN: And you saw two guys that look suspicious.
HRYHORIV: Yes. And they were going to the bushes.
MCLEAN: And they're walking through the bushes.
HRYHORIV: We physically grabbed them here and didn't let them cold. We would probably let them go but if they could show us some documents or something like that but they didn't.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Ever since the president's warning, CNN found that, in Mykolaiv, any men out after curfew get special attention from police. And in Kyiv, even those fleeing through humanitarian corridors don't escape scrutiny.
OLEKSANDR KAMYSHIN, CEO, UKRAINIAN RAILWAYS: Because we are afraid that Russians may have sent some of their own.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Ukraine's rail chief says security has been beefed up to guard against saboteurs planting special targets to guide Russian missiles. Staff detained this man near Kharkiv.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Constantly gauge them and send them to police.
MCLEAN: How do you know for sure?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russian documents (INAUDIBLE) -- MCLEAN (voice-over): A few days into the war, Volodymyr Lytvyn's wife
says she spotted suspicious vehicles without headlights outside their home near the airport. By the time he went to investigate, police were already there pointing guns in his direction.
VOLODYMYR LYTVYN, LVIV RESIDENT (through translator): And it was an unpleasant experience for me. But I'm happy that there are such security measures. If you're an honest person and have no bad intentions, there's nothing to worry about.
MCLEAN: Was the word "saboteur" in your vocabulary before the war started?
LYTVYN: (Speaking foreign language).
MCLEAN (voice-over): But finding links to Russia is complicated in a country filled with Russian speakers.
ROKSOLANA YAVORSKA, UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE SPOKESPERSON (through translator): It is simply impossible to consider every Russian- speaking person is saboteur. A saboteur may have a characteristic Russian accent, not just be a Russian speaker.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The Ukrainian security service in Lviv says only soldiers and law enforcement can demand a person's documents. But in wartime --
YAVORSKA (through translator): To detain or not to detain a suspect with your own hands is the decision of each person.
MCLEAN (voice-over): Despite all the hype, she says not a single person in Lviv has been charged yet with sabotage -- Scott McLean, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, we're following a surge of COVID-19 cases across Western Europe that has health officials in the U.S. on high alert. My colleague, Paula Newton, joins us next on CNN with more on that story.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Paula Newton, coming to you from Atlanta.
A surge of COVID-19 cases right across Western Europe has health experts on alert for another wave in the United States that could happen. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following the latest developments for us from New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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.
But the 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 typically happens here.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Dr. Jonathan Reiner interprets COVID upticks elsewhere as a clear sign that the virus is coming back.
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 (voice-over): 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.
White House officials also detailed 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 -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: For more on this, we want to bring in Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist with Scripps Research.
Good to have you in again for your expertise. We definitely need it, once again. OK, BA.2, we just heard that likely that means there could be more of a surge of it here in the United States.
What do we know about this variant?
And are the vaccines still effective against it? DR. ERIC TOPOL, SCRIPPS RESEARCH: Right, well, good to be with you, Paula.
The BA.2 is a sister of the original BA.1 Omicron. It has a lot of different mutations. But the good thing is that vaccines with a booster are just as protective against it as the original strain or BA.1. The problem is that it's about 30 percent more contagious.
So even though it doesn't cause more severe illness, it's going to get to a lot more people, as we're seeing in a lot of countries in Western Europe.
NEWTON: Now if you've already had Omicron, can you still get this subvariant?
TOPOL: That's right.
[01:45:00]
TOPOL: There's some antibody response to the Omicron BA.1 that cross reacts to this BA.2 but it's not great. It is a relatively weak antibody response. So yes, there can be infections that come, you know, after BA.1 with this second lineage of the Omicron.
NEWTON: So given that, we could see quite a substantial surge. And this is at a time when restrictions are just beginning to lift, right, in some places, especially when you point to things like schools.
Do you think we have to look at this again?
And believe me, you know better than anyone the kind of COVID fatigue there is around the world right now.
TOPOL: Right. There's no question about the fatigue. We're so sick of this. And there are some countries that have gone through BA.2 transition, including South Africa and India and others, that didn't have a surge. So we can hope for a bit of that.
But as you point out aptly, the loosening restrictions, along with the waning of immunity from our vaccines also contribute to making the spread of the BA.2 worse. So we have to be careful about just loosening all restrictions, because that's just going to feed into the BA.2 spread.
NEWTON: Yes, and we heard in Polo's report there how stark it is that many people in the United States remain unvaccinated. I have to tell you, Doctor, anecdotally, I have heard from several people who -- who have this new variant. And yet they've had -- they're fully vaccinated, even boosted; they're quite sick.
Not sick that they're ending up in hospital but still, quite a severe, kind of flulike symptoms.
How much should we worry, then, about what this could still do to vaccinated, vulnerable populations?
The older people that we have all been trying to shield for so long, those who are immunocompromised.
TOPOL: Right, such a great point. The 95 percent protection from hospitalization, that's the key. That's where you draw the line between getting sick or mild illness. The protection from that third shot is really the essential point.
But, yes, there is no question that illness can occur with these Omicron variants. And at 94 percent protection from death or having to be on a mechanical ventilator in ICU, so that booster, the essentiality of it can't be emphasized enough.
And here, in the United States, we are at a very major disadvantage, because we only have 29 percent of our population boosted. And as you mentioned, the older people, we have 65 percent; whereas, many countries in Europe that we just touched on are at 85 -- for booster, 90 percent and overall, 65 percent, 70 percent.
So here in the U.S., we're much more vulnerable.
NEWTON: And, Doctor, don't have a lot of time left but do you believe that we will be talking about this a lot more here in the United States in the next two or three weeks, given the data that you've looked at?
TOPOL: It seems to be inevitable at this point, unless we're extremely lucky. I wouldn't want to count on -- the odds are against us here. Every other time -- that is, five other times that Europe and U.K. warned us, it came here. So looks like it's going to do that again.
NEWTON: Yes, and that -- that is your blunt and necessary assessment, Dr. Topol, and we certainly admire your perseverance. The rest of us are distracted. You are there, steady as you go and keeping us informed. Really appreciate it.
TOPOL: Thank you.
NEWTON: So top dancers from around the world came together for a special performance. After the break, their message, of course, of peace for Ukraine and their goal to raise money.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
NEWTON: Ukrainian actors and musicians have had their lives, of course, turned upside down, just like other Ukrainians, as this war rages in their country. They, in fact, do what they can in hopes of returning one day to the stage in their home country. Nada Bashir has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This van is empty, ready to be filled.
NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Packed, sealed and ready to be driven hundreds of miles toward Ukraine's borders, an outpouring of support at one of London's many donation hubs.
For Ukrainian theater director Anastasiya Sosis, volunteering here feels like one of the few ways she can support those fleeing the war. Many of her own friends and family are still in Ukraine.
ANASTASIYA SOSIS, UKRAINIAN THEATER DIRECTOR: A lot of them can't really get out right now. A lot of them won't get out.
BASHIR (voice-over): At home she shows us photos of her friends and theater colleagues. Her trip to London in February was only meant to last a week. Now there's no telling when she'll be able to return home.
SOSIS: It's awful and not just because of the sense of guilt but because you feel like you cannot do anything.
BASHIR (voice-over): Living between London and Kyiv, she had been preparing to take her theater production back home to tour across Ukraine. But like so many, her plans for the future have been torn apart. For now, daily phone calls are the only connection she has to loved ones at home.
SOSIS: How are you right now?
How are you doing?
DASHA MINEYEVA, UKRAINIAN SINGER: It's hard to say, you know, how I am.
BASHIR (voice-over): After a 17-hour train journey from Kyiv, friend and colleague, Dasha Mineyeva, has arrived in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Here, she hopes she will be safe, at least until she can make it across the border.
MINEYEVA: I keep asking myself if I'm courageous enough, you know. And there is a massive guilt.
BASHIR (voice-over): Not long ago the pair were preparing for their show in this recording studio in Kyiv.
Friend and composer Dimitriy Saratsky is still in the Ukrainian capital, his basement studio now doubling up as a bomb shelter. Like many, Dimitri says he couldn't have imagined that it would come to this. His wife and 6-year-old son have now left Ukraine in search of safety across the border.
[01:55:00]
BASHIR (voice-over): But he still has hope for a future in Ukraine for his family. DIMITRIY SARATSKY, UKRAINIAN COMPOSER (through translator): To be
honest, I do have moments of panic where I think all is lost. But deep down, I believe Kyiv and other cities will be restored. We will all be there. We may be different. We may be changed. But we will be there.
BASHIR (voice-over): For these friends, life has been transformed by the war.
SOSIS: There's a lot of suffering going on but there's also a lot of unity and hope.
BASHIR (voice-over): Hope for peace and for a future where they will once again perform on the stages of Kyiv -- Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And now to some mournful news. Ukraine's national opera house is grieving one of its top dancers. Ballet star Artyom Dashinshi's friends posted on social media he died after being injured by Russian shelling.
He is described as a beautiful artist and a wonderful man by a colleague. Other ballet dancers have staged a performance with a purpose to send a message of peace and raised more than $100,000 to help Ukraine.
The performers from Russia and Ukraine as well as Argentina, Cuba, France and Japan joined forces in London on Saturday at a benefit gala. They hope their message of peace reaches the Russian people.
One of the organizers said shows like this take months to put together. But the need for aid in Ukraine prompted them to set the show up in just a matter of weeks.
Gorgeous performers there.
And that does it for me this hour. I'm Paula Newton. Our breaking news coverage continues live from Lviv, Ukraine, with Hala Gorani right after a break.
