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Ukraine Rejects Russia's Demand To Surrender Mariupol; More Than 7,200 People Evacuated From Mariupol Sunday; Ukrainian Forces Battle Russians Near Kherson; Ukrainian President Addressed Israeli Knesset Sunday; China Denies Providing Military Assistance To Russia; Pres. Zelenskyy Says He's Ready for Negotiations with Putin; Children Paying the Heavy Price of War; Kremlin Ramps Up Propaganda Offensive as Invasion Stalls; Ukraine Says Another Russian General Killed Amid Conflict; Cyberwarfare in the Digital Fight with Russia; COVID Vaccine Could Become Annual Shot; Hong Kong Announces Lifting of Some COVID Restrictions. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:01:10]

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: 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. We're tracking breaking developments here in Ukraine. Just in the last few minutes before I get to the nationwide developments, we heard some air raid siren sound across Lviv here in western Ukraine.

Also among the developments, we've heard Ukrainian officials flatly refused to meet Russian demands to surrender the city of Mariupol before dawn. Now Russian forces have been unleashing brutal attacks on Mariupol, leaving behind this type of widespread devastation as well as countless casualties. While so many civilians remain trapped amid the heavy bombardment, 7,200 were evacuated from Mariupol yesterday on Sunday through humanitarian corridors, but it leaves many more trapped in this type of wretched environment.

And as the fighting around Mariupol rages, we're learning that a senior Russian naval officer is now among those killed. In Kyiv, at least one person was killed after several explosions hit the capital. You see one blast here caught on CCTV video. We're told both residential and business areas were hit.

Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine will be the focus of a NATO summit which will take place this week. The American President Joe Biden will be there in person. And we've now learned he'll also travel to Warsaw, Poland and meet with the country's president. Ukraine's president spoke with CNN earlier and said he is ready for talks of his own with Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): I think that we have to use any format any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, the possibility of talking to Putin. But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Some of the heaviest recent fighting has been around Kherson, a southern city occupied currently by Russian forces. Now they're attacking surrounding villages and the drive to seize the port city of Mykolaiv. Ukrainian forces have held the Russians back. But as Nick Paton Walsh reports, they have not been able to limit the destruction of Russia's relentless missile strikes and shelling.

And a warning, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): This is what the slow route of Russia in southern Ukraine looks like. Kyiv's forces pushing close to Kherson, the first city the Kremlin took.

(on-camera): Here, so many people being evacuated day by day, and the air required it contrast to these impacts we see all around in the fields, just constant barrage over the past days.

(voice-over): The bus is the last way out of here, going from door to what is left of every door. The village of Posad-Pokrovske has been Ukraine's last position for days. And so this is what Russia left of it.

But noise is the village gas main, leaking furiously. Putin's war of annihilation was sure not to overlook this school. Its front torn off by a missile. It is hard to imagine life returning here even when the shelling stops, which just now it does not. We run down for cover.

The Marines here are mobile, pushing forwards where they can. Kherson's nearby airport, their prize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Now we have little machine.

WALSH (on-camera): On your way to the airport?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To kill them (INAUDIBLE).

[01:05:07]

WALSH (voice-over): Daniel is a former Lebanese soldier working in TV married to a Ukrainian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two weeks ago, this place had life. And now nothing.

WALSH (voice-over): The bus has filled with anyone left who wants to leave, anyone who can move themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).

WALSH (voice-over): We are asked to take those who cannot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.

WALSH (voice-over): And who remember the last time war came to Europe. As we leave, shelling hits the village. It had become a deathbed riddled with cluster munition minds, this man said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Civilians, they killed all the civilians. These are bastards, reptiles, parasites. They don't fight troops, they fight people. Worse than the fascists. Yes, worse, worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I remember how the Germans attacked us. They didn't mess with us like this.

WALSH (voice-over): Over days, the road out there has been fought over. It's pockmarked concrete lined with these tiny peaceful worlds ripped open. This woman was in Poland when Russians took her hometown, Kherson, where her children are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I need to go home.

WALSH (voice-over): Nickoli (ph) can't really hear the blast at his age, but sent his wife to live with his daughter in the city. He stayed to protect whatever they have left.

Shelling hits the road out again. And we drive past the earth Putin shells have happily scorched as his army slowly loses whatever ground here it gained. Ukraine's guns pushing them back.

But Moscow imposes a cost, these barracks torn into, reduced to rubble by missile strikes that killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers, some as they slept Friday morning. In one of the worst known losses of the war.

This trauma unit struggles with some of the 40 injured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Girls, I need the anesthetist here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Where are my people? Yaroslav? Valka?

WALSH (voice-over): One soldier asking his friends by name. Not all injuries involve blood. The soldier was in bed on the third floor when the blast hit and he found himself on the second with both legs smashed losing consciousness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We know the enemy. In the end, the world must see and hear this. I don't know. How many death will it take for everyone to see?

WALSH (voice-over): That night, the Kremlin's blunt force hits another target around Mykolaiv. Moscow maybe losing ground here, but does all it can to crush and stifle what it cannot have.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Posad-Pokrovske, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Such great on the ground reporting. We have seen the carnage unleashed by Russia's unprovoked attack, with no concern given to civilians sheltering from the violence. And now we're waiting to learn more about these latest strikes, including one that hit an art school in Mariupol.

An adviser to the city's mayor says officials are still trying to find out exactly how many people survived that bombing. Earlier, we learned the building was acting as a shelter for about 400 people. We also still don't know how many survived the attack on a theater in the city four days ago. It was also being used as a shelter for as many as 1,300 people. So far, 130 are reported to have survived.

And we're just learning about an attack on a care home in eastern Ukraine. It happened nine days ago, but we're getting more details on it. The head of the Luhansk region says 56 elderly residents were killed when a Russian tank opened fire on them. CNN has not been able to independently verify that claim.

[01:10:04]

Joining me now is Mick Ryan, a retired Major General with the Australian Army and former commander of the Australian Defense College. He's also the author of "War Transformed: The Future Of 21st Century Great Power Competition and Conflict." Thanks for joining us.

So this can be --

MAJOR GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Thank you.

GORANI: -- accidental each and every time. It really sounds and seems on the ground, as of Russians are either reckless in their targeting or deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and areas. What is the strategy behind this?

RYAN: Well, I think it's probably a bit of both, as well as a lot of pressure from the top. The Russian high command will be getting desperate to please President Putin will be putting a lot of pressure on subordinate commanders. So it results in this kind of behavior from subordinate commanders. We should also not forget, urban warfare is very brutal, it brutalizes participants, which makes these kind of war crimes much more likely.

GORANI: Yes. It hasn't even become really urban combat. I mean, these are Russian strikes, sometimes with long range missiles into populated areas. Do you share the analysis that some experts have brought forth that Russia is on the back foot that these types of actions are in fact a sign of their weakness, of the fact that they're not able to take city centers?

RYAN: I think that is correct. The Russians have used most of their precision weapons in the first week or so of this war. They really are now using the large stocks of dumb bombs, and more indiscriminate artillery in these kinds of strikes. So we're seeing a lot more death and destruction from civilians, which good leaders in professional --

GORANI: All right, well, unfortunately, we just lost the connection with Mick Ryan. We'll try to reconnect a little bit later. Thanks to Mick Ryan for joining us.

Now in one, quote, unquote, positive development, about half of the staff that's been working at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, basically since the war began, has been able to rotate out and return home. The International Atomic Energy Agency says those employees had been working non-stop at the radioactive waste facilities for more than three weeks when Russian forces sees the site. So basically occupied by Russian forces.

Those workers have now been relieved by other Ukrainian staffers. And the IAEA is hopeful that the rest of the staff can rotate out soon as well.

Now, Ukraine's President spoke to Israeli legislators Sunday. He's been doing the rounds and speaking to Congress in the U.S., to the Bundestag in Germany. This time, it's the Knesset. After the break, we'll tell you about Volodymyr Zelenskyy's impassioned plea and Israel's unique relationship with Russia. Stay with us.

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[01:17:04]

GORANI: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy address the Israeli Knesset Sunday by video link. He said the people of Israel and Ukraine shared an intertwined history and said it was time for Israel to make its choice. Journalist Elliott Gotkine has that story from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN JOURNALIST: In a roughly 10 minute speech peppered with both gratitude and criticism of Israel stance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy addressed the country's lawmakers via zoom. They also tuned in by the video conferencing app because the Knesset is in the midst of its Passover recess. Zelenskyy began by quoting Israel's most famous Ukrainian born child, former Prime Minister Golda Meir. She said, "We intend to remain alive. Our neighbors want to see us dead. This is not a question, but leaves much room for compromise."

He repeatedly likened Russia's invasion and the language that the Russian government is now using to justify its invasion of Ukraine to that of the Nazis. And he noted that in 1920, on February the 24th, 1920, this was the day that the National Socialist Party was formed, about 102 years later on the exact same date, February 24th, 2022, Russia ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Now he criticized Israel for not offering more -- not issuing more visas for Ukrainian refugees, and also for not sending military aid. He noted that Israel is able to defend itself with its Iron Dome missile defense system. Now I don't think Israel is going to go down that route. It is one of the few countries that has good relations, both with Ukraine and with Russia, as we saw with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's visit to President Putin in Moscow last Saturday, since when he spoken to Zelenskyy six times and to Putin three times.

So Israel wants to maintain its kind of mediator role or its potential to be a mediator. But at the same time, it also doesn't want to put any Russian noses out of joint. It has pretty much carte blanche to carry out raids on Hezbollah positions and other assets in southern Syria where the airspace is controlled by Russia. And it wants to maintain that ability when it feels that there are assets that have been brought into Syria, which threaten it.

At the same time, Israel is mindful that there is a very large Jewish population in Russia and doesn't want to do anything that could cause them problems. Now that said, Israel has been sending humanitarian aid. It says it's the only country that believes to have sent a field hospital to Ukraine. And that on Monday, a team is due to fly out to operate that hospital in western Ukraine near the Polish border.

But perhaps the most poignant quote, I think, from Zelenskyy was this when he was addressing Israeli lawmakers. He said, "You can mediate between two countries, but not between good and evil."

Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:20:02]

GORANI: Well China's ambassador to the U.S. is rejecting rumors that Beijing may be providing military assistance to Russia. But says Beijing is conducting business as usual with Moscow. He told CBS's Face the Nation that the countries are still cooperating on economic, trade and financial as well as energy matters despite Russia's invasion. And claims, China is only sending humanitarian aid to the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QIN GANG, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: There's a disinformation about China providing military assistance to Russia. We reject that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You will do (INAUDIBLE) or not?

GANG: What China is doing is sent food, medicine, sleeping bags, and the baby formula, not weapons and ammunition to any party. And we against the war, as I said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Steven Jiang joins me now live from Beijing with more. What is the objective of China here putting forth its ambassador to Washington on American television, saying, we promise you, we're not sending any weapons, just baby formula and stuff like that? What are they trying to achieve?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Hala, it is interesting, because in the past few days, we have started noticing the slight or subtle changes in officials' rhetoric about this war, even though they still refuse to call it a Russian invasion. But they have started mentioning Ukraine security concern as part of their consideration in their position and policy. And as you have just heard from the Chinese ambassador, they have also been highlighting China's humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, even though it's still very small in scale.

And their state media, even though their coverage of this war, still very much pro-Russia has started including some information from the Ukrainian side. And even their sensors are now starting to allow some more neutral voices to emerge on Chinese social media. Now, all of this can be a sign of the Beijing leadership being programmatic given how the war has been going. But also it's a reflection of, they're still trying to maintain some sort of moral high ground with their foreign minister, for example, insisting over the weekend, that time will eventually prove China's position to be on the right side of history.

But senior officials here including President Xi Jinping, still pointing to NATO's eastward expansion as the root cause of this conflict. And that, of course, is not just parroting a crumbling talking point, but also a reflection of Beijing's strategic concern about the U.S. building alliances around China. And with officials here increasingly using the term, the Indo-Pacific version of NATO, so that's really something that's been bonding Xi Jinping and Putin in the past few years.

And that's why a lot of people say, China wants to -- China really wants to see out of the war is a weakened U.S. and its alliances as well as a new international order more favorable to authoritarian governments. That's why Putin losing power in Russia will be their nightmare. That's why at this stage, very few people see China pulling back from its close ties with Russia, despite U.S. warnings. Hala?

GORANI: Well, all that being said, the U.S. President and Xi Jinping had an almost two-hour phone call. The U.S. and Western countries are China's biggest customer for its product. And how much influence does the U.S., does Biden really have on Xi Jinping to try to have to put -- to encourage China to put pressure on Putin to stop this assault?

JIANG: That's a very good point, Hala, because since the war began, they really -- the Beijing leadership really has been trying to balance this almost impossible, strike this almost impossible balance. One aspect of this, of course, is trying to minimize their own companies and entities exposure to increasingly severe Western sanctions. And we have actually seen some signs of that on this front, including the Chinese authorities letting the ruble drop more freely in its exchange rate against the Chinese yuan in this very tightly regulated foreign exchange market.

And also, the Chinese central bank, for example, still not say anything about Russia's potential attempt to convert its yuan foreign reserves into U.S. dollars, euros. And there is even Russian state media reporting about China declining to provide Russia with spare aircraft parts despite a request from Moscow. So all of this, of course, can be seen as a sign that the Chinese realization that despite the importance of their trading relations with Russia, that is still very much dwarfed by their economic and trade ties with the West.

So, in principle, they want to see this war end sooner than later, as you mentioned, because of the economic environment. But strategically, they're really don't seem to be in a hurry to get involved deeply. Because eventually, as many have pointed out, a weakened Russia would probably have nowhere to turn to embrace China even more tightly. Hala?

[01:25:03]

GORANI: Thank you, Steven Jiang in Beijing.

Lot more to come on CNN. Some of the youngest victims of Russia's war on Ukraine, orphaned babies and toddlers who already survived the bombardment but are still in danger.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine. Ukrainian leaders have refused Russia's demands to surrender the besieged city of Mariupol. Moscow's deadline in fact passed a few hours ago. Bombardments on Mariupol have made it hard to get civilians out or get any kind of aid and Ukraine says more than 7,000 people were able to escape on Sunday, but it's important to note many more remain trapped and civilian shelters are coming under attack including an art school and a theater.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting is also raging around Ukraine's capital of Kyiv. On Sunday, several explosions were reported near the city center. You see one of them there on your screen. Kyiv's mayor says at least one person was killed. And official say a shopping center also caught fire with flames reaching as high as the third and fourth floors.

Western leaders continue to coordinate on sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for this provoked aggression. In the coming hours, the American President Joe Biden will hold a call with several European leaders to discuss their response.

[01:29:47]

It comes ahead of Mr. Biden's trip to Europe to meet with NATO allies later this week.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's president says he's ready to negotiate with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke exclusively to CNN's Fareed Zakaria Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: President Biden has called Vladimir Putin a war criminal and yet you have called for negotiations with him. Will it be hard? Will it be painful for you to have to sit down with Putin to agree and negotiate with him?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am ready for negotiations with him. I was ready over the last two years. I think that -- I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war.

I think that all the people who think that this dialogue shallow that it's not going to resolve anything, they just don't understand that this is very valuable.

If there's just a 1 percent chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance. We need to do that.

I can tell you about the result of this negotiations. In any case, we are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground. Russian forces have come to exterminate us, kill us.

And we can demonstrate the dignity of our people and our army that we are able to deal a powerful blow, we are able to strike back. But unfortunately, our dignity is not going to preserve the lives. So I think that we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating, a possibility of talking to Putin.

But if these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war. But if we were a NATO member, a war would not have started. So now I would like to receive security guarantees for my country, for my people. If NATO members are ready to see us in the alliance, then do it immediately because people are dying on a daily basis.

But if you are not ready to preserve the lives of our people, if you just want to see us straddle two worlds, if you want to see us in this dubious position where we do not understand whether you can accept us or not, you cannot place us in this situation. You cannot force us to be in this limbo.

ZAKARIA: You have a young family and I have to -- I keep wondering, how do you explain to your children what is going on?

ZELENSKYY: My children know for sure what is happening. And I don't know whether it is good or bad. I have not explained anything to my children. they have said to me that war is raging in Ukraine, and at our home we have the same freedom of speech as we have in our country. And they know what we are fighting for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: That was President Zelenskyy.

Ukraine's neighbors are doing their best to help the flood of refugees crossing their border settle. In Romania, emergency workers are welcoming them with hot meals and toys for the kids. Most Ukrainians are fleeing to Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia. The U.N. says about 10 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, and that includes more than 3.3 million who've fled Ukraine altogether.

Now with Russia's indiscriminate bombing campaign only growing, more and more innocent children are suffering the consequences. And among the most vulnerable, dozens of orphan babies and toddlers who have already survived Russian bombardment but remain in extreme danger.

Salma Abdelaziz has that story.

[01:34:38]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They are too tiny to understand the meaning of war. But these orphans are already victim to its cruelty. They are among the 71 children that were rescued from the hard-hit northern city of Sumy. Many are disabled, all under the age of four. Some requiring constant medical attention.

"These are the kids from a Sumy orphanage", the doctor in the video says. "They were evacuated yesterday, and miraculously they brought them here to Kyiv. Their journey was very difficult," he says.

For two weeks, caretakers sheltered the babies and toddlers from Russian bombardment in a basement. And when a humanitarian corridor finally opened, they made the dangerous journey here to the capital. Each little one arrived with an orange tag with minimal details -- name, birth date, and their most urgent medical needs.

We were able to track down four of the children, now at Kyiv City Heart Center. Over a shaky video connection, the staff told us of their harrowing. All the children were packed across just four ambulances, with only two doctors among them.

NURSE OKSANA, KYIV CITY HEART CENTER: Just for babies in the car journey from Sumy to Kyiv during the six hours, without a doctor, just a driver. Just a driver.

ABDELAZIZ: Now the babies are receiving the medical attention they require. But with Russian forces shelling Kyiv, they are still not safe. Nurse Oksana has a simple plea.

NURSE OKSANA: Children don't die.

ABDELAZIZ (on camera): You don't want children to die?

NURSE OKSANA: Yes, yes.

ABDELAZIZ (voice over): But in an unprovoked war where the most innocent are targeted, there are few guarantees.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN -- Lviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Just heartbreaking.

My colleague Paula Newton picks up our coverage of the war in Ukraine when we return from this short break. We will tell you about Moscow's propaganda campaign at home designed to obscure its brutality here in Ukraine.

[01:36:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: As Russia intensifies its attacks in Ukraine, it is opening a new front at home by ramping up the propaganda fight. Now the Kremlin is working to cover up Russia's brutality, but not everyone is buying in.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): As President Putin's slaughtering Ukraine stalls, his offensive at home to hide its brutality is ramping up, marking as enemies, Russians who don't buy the Kremlin's propaganda.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: The Russian people especially are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors and will spit them out like a nut that accidentally flew into their mouths.

ROBERTSON: What is coming out of the mouths of Putin's state media propagandist is a full-throated defense of Russia's killing of Ukrainian civilians, falsely claiming Ukraine started the war, that civilians are being used as human shields. Putin's Kremlin cronies doubled down on the lie, blamed the U.S. and Europe for the civilian deaths.

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN: The Russian armed forces do not bomb cities. This is well known to everyone. No matter how many videos are edited in NATO, no matter how many clips and fake photos are thrown in.

ROBERTSON: Yet an indication how flimsy the Kremlin may fear its fabrications are, Putin held a rare rally, seemingly seeking to scotch (ph) concerns over a mounting casualties and low morale among soldiers.

PUTIN: Our boys are fighting in this operation, shoulder to shoulder, shielding one another with their bodies on the battlefield. We haven't had this unity for a long time.

ROBERTSON: For many Russians, knowing fact from Kremlin fiction is getting impossible. His heavy handed riot police, routinely drag anti- war protesters off the streets. Draconian new laws ban criticism of the war. Max penalty, 15 years in jail. Access to Facebook and Twitter, restricted.

And since the war began, Russia's few remaining independent media outlets have been shut down, including TVRain whose viewership rocketed, news director and anchor Ekaterina Kotrikadze fled for safety.

EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE, TVRAIN ANCHOR: There are many people, a lot of people, millions of Russians who understand that something terrible is going on, and who understand that they need this alternative source of information.

ROBERTSON: Not all dissent is stifled. News editor Marina Ovsyannikova took her anti-war protests primetime on the Kremlin's most popular propaganda machine Channel One. Almost quickly convicted of organizing a public event.

MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA, EDITOR, CHANNEL ONE: I have been working on Channel One and doing Kremlin propaganda, and I'm very ashamed of it. It is a shame that I allowed lies to come from the TV screens. A shame that they helped zombify Russian people.

ROBERTSON: The real news, the news we all see, that the loss and shattered lives of terrified civilians, of millions forced to flee out of bombed out homes is barely getting through to Russians. Give Putin more time and he'll try to shut them off completely.

Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Ukraine says another Russian general was killed Tuesday during fighting in southern Ukraine near Mariupol. Now, while CNN cannot independently verify the claims, Ukraine says several senior Russian officers have been killed so far.

Earlier, CNN's Jake Tapper asked retired U.S. Army General and former CIA director David Petraeus about what the situation is like on the ground now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It is not common -- it's very, very uncommon. This is in the first three weeks, and these are quite senior generals.

The bottom line is that their command and control has broken down. Their communications have been jammed by Ukrainians, their securicoms (ph), they don't work, they had to go to a single channel that is jammable and that is exactly what the Ukrainians have been doing.

[01:44:56]

PETRAEUS: To do that they use cell phones. The Ukrainians blocked the prefix for Russia so that did not work. Then they took down 3G. they are literally stealing cell phones from Ukrainian civilians to communicate amongst each other. So what happens? the column gets stopped, an impatient general sitting back there in his armored or whatever vehicle. He goes forward to find out what's going on because there is no initiative.

Again, there is no non-commissioned officer corps. There is no sense of initiative at junior levels, they wait to be told what to do. He gets up there and the Ukrainians have very, very good snipers and they've just been picking them off left and right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: So on Sunday, we also learned that a senior Russian naval officer was killed in fighting near Mariupol. That is according to at least two Russian officials.

Now just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a series of cyberattacks hit the country, the Web sites of Ukrainian agencies and big banks went off line in what officials said was the largest cyber attack on Ukraine's history.

The White House blamed Russia, but the Kremlin denied involvement. U.S. officials warned that a wave of debilitating cyberattacks could accompany Russia's war but so far that hasn't materialized.

Meantime, last week Russia's military warned that it is facing an unprecedented volume of attacks from foreign hackers. Intelligence officials are contemplating this as they prepare for the next phase of war.

A short time ago, I spoke with Eric Noonan. He's a former U.S. Marine and CIA agent and I asked -- sorry, he is now the CEO as well of CyberSheath (ph).

I asked him about the state of the digital battlefield right now and the international community's efforts to prevent Russian cyberattacks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NOONAN, CEO, CYBERSHEATH: The international effort to defend against these cyberattacks has been very well coordinated. There has been a tremendous amount of intelligence sharing for every country potentially involved, and it goes beyond Ukraine.

Here in the United States certainly we are susceptible given the sanctions that we have taken against the Russian government. So it's really been a global effort. And a global -- in many ways public private partnership between private industry and governments across the world sharing intelligence and then improving defenses.

So that is certainly one reason that there is the possibility that we've actually just been better globally actually at defense.

And then the other potential reason that we haven't seen the impacts that we expected, is that Russia just hasn't not deployed those attacks yet. We don't know if that is the case. We can't be certain of that yet. There is theories that potentially they did not want to damage an infrastructure that they thought they could quickly take over and leverage.

So there are many reasons potentially, but I think one of the ones that we can maybe take a little bit of a silver lining in this conflict is the fact that our defenses are well coordinated and there is a tremendous amount of intelligence sharing going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And our thanks there to Eric Noonan.

Now Hong Kong will ease COVID restrictions amid its most deadly outbreak of the coronavirus yet. But is it the right move as thousands of new cases get reported every day?

We are live in Hong Kong with more right after the break.

[01:48:12]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: So the COVID-19 vaccine could someday become an annual shot. That's according to the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is also, we should note a Pfizer board member.

Now he compares it with the flu vaccine, which of course, is typically given once a year usually in the fall or the winter in the United States. That is when the flu risk is at its highest listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I think this is really a six-month vaccine in terms of providing

really meaningful protection against symptomatic disease and infection. And this is likely to become an annualized vaccine for the majority of Americans.

I think for those who are vulnerable, you should think about getting a shot every six months while we are in a high prevalent environment. And in fact the shots are authorized for that use. For people who are immunocompromised, there is authorization right now for a fourth booster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And just a little while ago, Hong Kong's leadership announced the lifting of some COVID-19 measures, and that includes ending flight bans for the U.S., U.K., and several other countries. Hong Kong has seen nearly 6,000 COVID-related deaths and most of those are in the past few weeks. That is according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Now Hong Kong enacted a zero COVID policy similar of course to mainland China, and that was in an effort to slow the spread. That has resulted in business closures and restrictions on movement.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong with the latest. And Kristie, how significant is it in terms of what is being done? And what is the situation there on the grounds still with COVID?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a very significant development. These changes that were announced to Hong Kong zero COVID policy, a policy that has isolated this once-thriving international business, logistics, and aviation hub. We heard from Hong Kong top leader Carrie Lam earlier today. She announced that the flight ban on nine different countries including the U.K. and the U.S. will be lifted starting April the 1st. She also announced that that 14-day quarantine on most incoming travelers will be reduced to seven days, all that depending on vaccination status of the traveler and the country of origin. That measure to kick in next month on April the 1st.

But Hong Kong is still clinging to a number of strict social distancing measures that won't be eased until after April the 21st, including a ban on social gatherings of more than two people, a number of businesses will remain closed including gyms, bars, cinemas.

It's been estimated that some 50,000 small businesses will be shuttered as a result of this fifth wave of infection and the zero COVID policy.

We also learned that schools will start to reopen from next month April the 17th. And the plan for that mandatory citywide testing scheme that caused a lot of alarm and fears of family separation in Hong Kong, that has been suspended.

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STOUT: In fact, that was one of many factors that contributed to the mass exodus that we witnessed here from Hong Kong with tens of thousands of people leaving the city in recent weeks.

It was last week when Carrie Lam finally conceded that the public tolerance for these tough zero COVID measures have reached a limit.

Let's bring up the statement for you. And it seems that it was pushback from the financial sector that was the catalyst for these changes. She said this. "I have a very strong feeling that people's tolerance is fading. I've a very good feel that some of our financial institutions are losing patience about the sort of isolated status of Hong Kong. As Hong Kong is an international financial center." End- quote.

The death toll though, that continues to climb, Paula, as you pointed out at the top of the segment. In recent weeks Hong Kong has been registering records. The world's highest death rate in regards to COVID-19 and the ongoing infection here.

We've been reporting these horrible scenes of hospitals being overwhelmed, coffins being sold out, mortuaries and morgues being at capacity. I'm going to show a very disturbing photo. This is a warning right now. Let's show you the photo with you of something that has been circulating here in Hong Kong. It's been causing much alarm to residents here. You are looking at body bags piling up in COVID-19 hospital wards, next to elderly patients.

We reached out to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, they issued a statement. They said that the situation that you witnessed here has been correctified. Many of these deaths are the elderly people who were just not vaccinated in time.

But look, the changes that were announced today, Paula, welcome news, but the damage to lives and livelihoods has been done. Back to you.

NEWTON: Absolutely, and tragic to think of those elderly people dying, desperate and alone. We certainly hope the situation improves.

Kristie, really appreciate the update.

I want to thank you for joining us this hour.

I'm Paula Newton. Our breaking news coverage continues live from Ukraine right after a break.

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