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Russian Forces Hit New Target in Kyiv; NATO Leaders Meeting in Brussels; Journalists Face Danger to Deliver Facts; 71 Orphaned Babies Rescued; Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addressed Israel's Knesset; Russia Used Hypersonic Missiles; Hong Kong Changed its COVID Rules. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 21, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everybody to our viewers around the world, also this hour in the United States. I'm Hala Gorani live in Lviv, Ukraine where it is just past 9 in the morning.

I want to get to our breaking news.

We are seeing new scenes of total obliteration and destruction inside Ukraine after a Russian strike. These are live images coming to us from the outskirts of Kyiv. Several explosions hit the capital, at least one person was killed.

Earlier, we learned that a shopping center caught fire in this particular attack and you can see what looks like I can make out the letters s, p, o, obviously, it would be in another alphabet, but this is where the shopping center once stood, at least that part of it.

And you can see what looks like part sort of, one of those -- one of those areas where you have your shopping carts, and it does say sports in English, which is what I was thinking that it said. But it gives you a sense of just how much of a civilian target this is. And there are also residential building there around that particular area that was destroyed.

And earlier we are still seeing firefighters putting out some flames, just about an hour ago, even though this attack took place overnight. So, again, these are on the outskirts of Kyiv, these scenes of destruction, a shopping mall, some sort of retail space, where it looks like, perhaps even a gym and around there some residential buildings.

We are going to keep our eye on the aftermath of this particular strike in the suburbs of Kyiv.

Meantime, officials here in Ukraine are flatly denying Russia's demands to surrender the besiege city of Mariupol. In fact, the deadline from Moscow ended several hours ago and went unanswered. Russian forces have been unleashing brutal attacks on Mariupol, with no concern for civilians. As recent strikes hit at least two locations use as shelters.

On Sunday, 7,200 civilians were evacuated through four humanitarian corridors, but many, many more remain trapped inside that city. And as the fighting around Mariupol rages, we are learning that a senior Russian naval officer is now among those killed. The Russians are losing some highly ranked military personnel.

Moscow's unprovoked attack on Ukraine will be the focus of a NATO summit this week. The U.S. President, Joe Biden, will be there, and we've learned that he will also travel to Warsaw, Poland, and meet with 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, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I am ready for negotiations with him. I was ready over the last two years. And I think that -- I think that without negotiations, we cannot end this war. I think that all of the people who think that this dialogue is shallow and that it is not going to resolve anything they just don't understand that this is very valuable. If there is just a 1 percent chance for us to start this war, I think that we need to take this chance, we need to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, CNN correspondents are tracking developments from around the world. This hour, we'll have reports from Salma Abdelaziz in Lviv. Natasha Bertrand will join us from Brussels, Nada Bashir is in London, Steven Jiang is in Beijing and Nick Paton Walsh is in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It's pretty clear that Ukraine has seen some strategic success here around the Black Sea coast port of Mykolaiv. We would normally see significant more blasts on the sky line here as we have in the past weeks. It has been quieter because Ukrainian forces have pushed Russians back down the road towards Kherson, the first city that Russia occupied.

We saw ourselves that fight on that road, and how some of the artillery Ukraine is using appears to be having an effect, but still, the bombardment of both sides seems to continue and there has been a heavy cost imposed on Ukrainian military forces here in the past three or four days.

[03:04:56]

One barracks hit, about 30 hit in possibly two missile strikes there and 40 injured. We saw ourselves the devastation on Ukrainian troops. Also too claims by the Russian minister of defense they used a hypersonic missile to the north of where I'm standing to hit a warehouse after test the claims whether that new technology was, in fact used and to what effect. But it marks a new phase here, frankly, in which we see Russia strategically lose terrain on the ground, important terrain when it comes the road towards Kherson, but respond with distant, heavy firepower. Still, some of that evidence at times on the skyline behind us here. We heard it last night as well. Very large blasts in the distance.

That still has people deeply concerned here. Despite the slight sense of a little bit more room to breathe in the city felt that it might be encircled in the past weeks or so. The local regional governor sounding at times more optimistic, in fact, in a grisly way, telling locals they might have to start thinking about collecting the abandoned bodies of Russian soldiers on the battlefield.

Still here though, Mykolaiv resisting, and that is slowing down any Russian moves towards the third largest city in Ukraine. The vital port of Odessa here though, things are possibly positive here for Ukrainian forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Nick Paton Walsh there. NATO allies are meeting in Brussels this week on what's being called an extraordinary summit to address the Russian invasion. The leaders will discuss ongoing deterrence, and defense efforts in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine. Estonia's prime minister spoke to Jake Tapper about NATO's priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are trying to do everything, but we can to help and support Ukraine to fight this war. Putin must not win this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand in Brussels for more and what to expect from this NATO summit. Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Hala. So, this is going to be a symbolic meeting of the NATO leaders later next week, as well as with President Biden and the E.U. leaders, as they try to assess the state of the war as it stands right now and the threat, importantly, that it poses to the NATO alliance, as well as the whole of Europe.

This is not expected to be a summit where many deliverables are going to be announced. Of course, the White House is trying to come up, we're told, with specific announcements that the president could make coming out of this summit to essentially tell the world that this was a meaningful meeting and that there were other ways that they could help Ukraine in its fight against Russia right now.

But ultimately what the summit is going to be about is about defending NATO and Europe. And while President Zelenskyy has been calling, of course, for a no-fly zone, has been calling for NATO and Europe to close the skies over Ukraine, that just does not seem to be on the table at this point. The European and U.S. officials that we speak to, of course, say that that would result in a direct confrontation potentially between NATO and Russian forces and that is not something they are prepared to do at this point.

But, you know, Zelenskyy, his message to the world has been that we are on the front lines of this war that Russia is waging against us that could very well leak into the rest of Europe and into the west. And he says that because of the fact that they are essentially protecting European security by serving as this buffer, he believes, between Russia and the rest of the west, that NATO should do more to help him and his people defend against this Russian onslaught. Hala?

GORANI: All right, Natasha Bertrand in Brussels, thanks very much.

Russia is not just intensifying its battlefield attacks. The Kremlin is also ramping up a propaganda offensive at home to cover up the brutality of the situation in this country. But not everyone is buying their version of events.

CNN diplomatic international editor Nic Robertson has that story.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Russian people especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors and we'll spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: What is coming out of the mouths of Putin's state media propagandists 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 double down on the lie, blaming the U.S. and Europe for the civilian deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:09:57]

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, SPOKESPERSON, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: For many Russians, knowing fact from Kremlin fiction is getting impossible. His heavy-handed riot police routinely dragged antiwar 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 TV Rain, whose viewership rocketed. News director and anchor Ekaterina Kotrikadze fled for safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE, NEWS DIRECTOR & ANCHOR, TV RAIN: 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 these alternative sources of information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Not all dissenters stifled. News editor Marina Ovsyannikova took her antiwar protests primetime on the Kremlin's most popular propaganda machine, Channel One, and was quickly convicted of organizing a public event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA, NEWS EDITOR, RUSSIA CHANNEL ONE (through translator): I have been working on Channel One, and doing Kremlin propaganda, and now I am very ashamed of it. It is a shame that I allowed lies to come from the TV screens, a shame that I helped zombified Russian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

GORANI: Despite the war raging around them and in their own country, many Ukrainian journalists continue to do their work. Kateryna Fedotenko works for the news channel Ukraine 24, which has remained on air throughout the invasion. She joins me now live. We are not disclosing her location.

Kateryna, thanks for being with us. What's it been like reporting on a war in your own country?

KATERYNA FEDOTENKO, HOST, UKRAINE 24: Hi. Thanks for having me. And I would like to start with traditional words here in Ukraine, glory to Ukraine, glory to armed forces of Ukraine, and glory to all of the people who support us.

I have seen the material your journalists have made about Russian propaganda. And that is why we are still working, and that is why there were no questions if we should continue going on air during the war. No matter how hard it is.

I was on air on the first day of work and we couldn't even finish out at air normally because of the shelling nearby our office. So, we feel and we understand that people need us. They need to know the truth about what is really happening in Ukraine and we feel our responsibility of that. And we feel our responsibility of telling of fighting against Russian propaganda.

GORANI: Yes.

FEDOTENKO: You know? I just want to share one fact, that they are using dirty lie, for example, they tried to hack our web site, they already did it. Our news web site. They already hacked our run-in line below on the screen, you know? And they are trying to make our people more scared. They wrote so-called speech of our president that he is tired, he leaves us, he don't want to fight, and he wants our people to give up.

And that is such a dirty lie. And we Ukrainians, we are now so united altogether, our army, our politicians, our journalists, and we don't believe those propaganda and we are trying to fight against it.

GORANI: Right.

FEDOTENKO: And that's why our TV channel we have created the new marathon and we are also creating the product and speaking Russian language to talk to those people who might be in Russia who can hear us, and who wants --

GORANI: Yes.

[03:15:03]

FEDOTENKO: -- to get the alternative sources of information.

GORANI: And Kateryna, obviously, your -- I mean, so many of the journalists who work for Ukraine 24, other hosts are not war correspondents. This is not something that you are used to dealing with on a daily basis. I wonder, what is that like suddenly, overnight becoming a conflict to journalist having to deal with broadcasting when shelling is going on all around you.

FEDOTENKO: Well, that is hard, because, you know, all of all journalists they are still working in the cities where they have been working all over the Ukrainian each region to tell what is really happening in each city of Ukraine. And that's hard because we are people, and we are also scared, you know, but we understand that we have to work. We have to make all of those videos to have an opportunity to maybe in the future to go to the court and to tell the world that Putin is a really crazy murderer, and he is killing our people, you know.

People all over the world they can't even imagine what Russians, what Putin does to our city, to our people. You can see 100 pictures, you can see thousands of videos, but you will never feel what is really happening here when people have to give birth to children in the bomb shelters, you know.

GORANI: Yes.

FEDOTENKO: And when you feel, when you see how your relatives are dying, and when you have to pack altogether and in one little pack and move to another city, or to another house, because your house have been damaged.

GORANI: Yes.

FEDOTENKO: And that's why, that's why we still work.

GORANI: Sure. And I'm just curious, are you -- I mean, we are not telling our viewers or anyone where you are, but are you still able to do your job? I mean, do you feel like you are able to bring information out?

And also, are you getting feedback or viewer responses from people inside Russia? Because you said one of the ways that you are trying to make a difference is combat propaganda by bringing the news and the fact two people who may not have access to it.

FEDOTENKO: We have no -- we have no another chances, you know, that is our job, our information front. You know, we fight on the land, we fight on the medical front, and as well, we have to fight on the information front.

We do get a lot of messages from our viewers, and a lot of messages was on the first days of war because everybody was scared, and they need to see us on the TV, and they need to -- they needed to understand that everything is going to be OK. And there are people who are still on TV. They are talking, they are communicating with people, and we had so many messages from people and they say thank you for our job.

And also, we feel support from all over the world, people from United States of America.

GORANI: Yes.

FEDOTENKO: They have texted me as well, from Great Britain, from all of the countries, you know? And, we also want to say thank you to American government, and American people. We can feel your support.

GORANI: Yes. FEDOTENKO: We can see all of those protests you are making, and you know, we feel that and that is a really huge support, but all we need, and you have been talking about the NATO summit, right? And all we need is to help us to be more safe from this sky, and I'm sure you know what I am talking about.

GORANI: Yes.

FEDOTENKO: And that is about call to close the sky.

GORANI: Of course. Absolutely, yes, we have been hearing a lot in the last several weeks since this invasion began. Kateryna Fedotenko of Ukraine 24, thank you so much. Good luck to you and your colleagues --

FEDOTENKO: Thank you.

GORANI: -- as you continue your work in very difficult circumstances.

Still to come, some of the youngest victims of Russia's war on Ukraine. Orphaned babies and toddlers who have already survived Russian bombardment but are still very much in danger. We'll be right back.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA KOVAL, UKRAINIAN MOTHER (through translator): Ukraine is my country, my homeland, my homeland has been attacked by a fierce enemy. We want to defend it from this enemy. I can't leave my sick parents, my husband who is not allowed to leave because he has to fight and defend the country. So, the most important thing for us is to rescue our children, take them to a safer place, and we will defend our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, the tide of refugees fleeing Ukraine is starting to worry. Central European countries, officials are being concerned as more than 3.3 million displaced Ukrainians flee the violence in their country. Poland has taken in the bulk of the refugees, with more than two million crossing to safety since the war began.

And meantime, some 800 evacuees arrived in the city of Brovary near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, escaping the fighting in their home towns and many have just been scarred by the things that they've just witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): They are shooting with everything they can, so we just took children and drove away, where do we go? We don't know. Just away from that hell. My name is Ludmila (Ph) and this is Anna (Ph), and those are my two sons. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:24:57]

GORANI: A Ukrainian woman who was injured while protecting her one- month-old baby during a Russian attack is speaking out about the horrifying experience. Olga used her own body as a shield to protect her newborn daughter from flying debris as their home came under fire in Kyiv. Thankfully her child was unharmed, thanks to her mother. Her husband who is seen in this photo was also injured during the attack. And listen as Olga describes those terrifying moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLGA, WOUNDED WHILE SAVING HER BABY (through translator): I was wounded in the head, and blood started flowing. And it all flowed on the baby. And I couldn't understand, I thought it was her blood. Dimitri (Ph) was taking the baby away, I'm screaming that she is covered all in blast, all in blood. He tells me, Olga, it's your blood, it's not hers.

And in the morning, I woke up to feed the baby again, I gave her bath, and I just sat down to feed her. I like to sit down with the knees up, like this. And I cover her with a blanket so she is warm too. And that is what kept the baby alive. I just got her covered in time, and then Dimitri (Ph) jumped up and covered us too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Olga and her husband are now recovering from their injuries. The whole family is alive, thankfully.

With Russia's indiscriminate bombing campaign only growing more and more innocent children are suffering the consequences. And among the most vulnerable, dozens of orphaned babies and toddlers who already survived Russian bombardment, but remain an extreme danger because they are very vulnerable for the reasons that you'll hear now from Salma Abdelaziz.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: They are too tiny to understand the meaning of war. 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 brough 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 tack 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 journey. All the children were packed across just for ambulances with only two doctors among them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Just for babies in the car journey from Sumy to Kyiv during six hours without doctor, just a driver. Just a driver.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

UNKNOWN: Children don't -- don't die.

ABDELAZIZ: You don't want children to die?

UNKNOWN: Yes. Yes.

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

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Lviv.

GORANI: Wow, these nurses are just absolute heroes.

Still to come, despite calls for diplomacy in Ukraine, China is continuing its business relationship with Russia. And that may not change anytime soon. We are live in Beijing with the details after this.

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani in Lviv, Ukraine.

Our breaking news this hour. Russian attacks have gutted a Ukrainian shopping center in Kyiv. We are seeing images of emergency crews. They're responding to that attack. This is the attack of the attack, just a few minutes ago we receive these images.

We understand that this area contained shops, as well as these high rise, residential units. There is a home improvement store, a gym, a supermarket as well, and you can see that there were cars they were park in what would've been, I imagine the parking lot outside of some of those shops.

You can see make out of the letters s, p, o, r, t. This looks it might have been a gym. There are some cranes there hovering over. Very tall, residential units. We understand that this is several miles from the city center, but much closer than I imagined people in the center of Kyiv would be comfortable with.

A completely unrecognizable scene, to anyone, who knows what this shopping area and residential area looked like before this Russian attack. So officials say, at least one person was killed by multiple explosions in Kyiv on Sunday. And we are working on the aftermath of this particular attack, and we will tell you with the casualty numbers are there.

So, to the south, the city of Mariupol has also come under intense bombardment. This, as leaders refuse Russia's demands to surrender. Ukraine says more than 7,000 people were able to escape on Sunday. But more, so many more, remain trapped. Civilian shelters are coming under attack including an art school and the theater.

We've also learned that a senior Russian naval officer was killed in fighting near Mariupol, according to social media post by two senior Russian officials. Amid the violence, Ukraine's president is renewing his call for direct talks with Vladimir Putin. Telling CNN that the consequences of not negotiating could be dire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): We have to use any format, any chance in order to have the 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: Well, China's ambassador to the U.S. is rejecting claims that Beijing may be providing military assistance to Russia.

[03:35:01]

But at the same time, China continues to conduct business as usual with Moscow. The Chinese ambassador told CBS' Face the Nation that the countries are still cooperating on multiple fronts despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

CNN's Steven Jiang joins me now Beijing with more. So, we've discussed in the past several hours, Steven, that there is no appetite on the part of China right now to pressure Russia to end its invasion and its assault on Ukraine. Will there be a moment, though, a point beyond which China will not be able to remain silent anymore? And that it will become in Beijing's best interest to put a bit of pressure on Putin to back off?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Hala, that's a turning point, if you well. A lot of people have been looking forward to or eagerly awaiting. But at this stage we are only seeing some subtle signs in official's rhetoric in the past few days. Because now at least they are starting to mention Ukraine's security concern as part of their consideration in formulating China's position and policy.

As you have mentioned the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., for example, highlighting China's humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. It's still very small in scale, but the Chinese foreign ministry, for example, just announcing a few moments ago, they are providing Ukraine with another batch of humanitarian aid. But on the other hand, of course, you know, you see the state media

here also starting to cite some information from the Ukrainian side even though they're largely providing a one side of pro-Russian kind of coverage about of this war. And then of course, even sensors are now allowing some more neutral voices to emerge on China's heavily censored Chinese social media.

All of this of course could be a sign of the Beijing leadership being pragmatic given how the war has been going. It could also be reflection of them trying to maintain some sort of moral high ground. But at the same time, officials including Xi Jinping, the president is still very much still pointing to NATO's expansion as the root cause of this conflict.

That of course's, not only just parroting a Kremlin talking point, but also reflection of Beijing's own concern about the U.S., building alliances around to encircle China. So that's why at the end of day, Putin losing power would be their ultimate nightmare. That's why at this point a lot of people say they simply don't see China pull back from this very close relationship with Russia. Hala?

GORANI: Steven Jiang, thanks very much in Beijing.

Ukraine's president over the past week, he has addressed the U.S. Congress, he has addressed the European Council, or I should say the European parliament, and the Bundestag in Germany. Yesterday, it was the Israeli Knesset's turn. He addressed them by video.

During an impassioned plea for help Volodymyr Zelensky said the people of Israel and Ukraine share an intertwined history.

Journalist Elliott Gotkine has those details from Tel Aviv.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: In a roughly ten-minute speech peppered with both gratitude and criticism of Israel's 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 as people in the Knesset is in the midst of their 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, and this is not a question that 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. And at 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. You know, 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 has spoken to Zelenskyy six times, and to Putin three times.

So, Israel wants to maintain its kind of mediator role, or this potential to be a mediator. At the same time, he also doesn't want to put any Russian Moses out of joint. It has pretty much had 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 threatened it.

[03:40:00]

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 would cause some problems. Now that said, Israel has been sending humanitarian aid, it says it's the only country that believe to have sent a field hospital to Ukraine.

And then 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.

GORANI: Well, that's going to do it for me in Lviv, Ukraine. For more, I'm turning it over to Rosemary Church at the CNN center. Rosemary?

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, Hala, for your reporting. I appreciate it.

Well, a new kind of missile has been deployed in Ukraine. U.S. officials, sources say it travels at startling speeds, which help it evade air defense systems. We will explain in a live report after the short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCHI: You are looking at video of hundreds of people in the Ukrainian town of Enerhodar. They are protesting the detention of the town's deputy mayor at the hands of the Russian military. The deputy mayor's son tells CNN, Russian soldiers arrive about 30 minutes later to shut down that rally.

Well, 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 cyberattack in Ukraine's history. The White House blamed Russia but the Kremlin denied involvement. U.S. Officials warn that a wave of debilitating cyberattacks could accompany Russia's war. But so far, they haven't materialized.

[03:45:04]

Meantime, last week, Russia's military warned that it's facing an unprecedented volume of attacks from foreign hackers. CNN spoke earlier with cybersecurity expert Eric Noonan. He talked about the international community's efforts to control the digital battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NOONAN, CEO, CYBERSHEATH: The international effort to defend against these cyberattacks, has been very well coordinated in advance, and there's 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're actually have just been better globally at defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCHI: The U.S. confirms Russia has used a new kind of weapon against Ukraine, the hypersonic missile. Now they travel at very high speeds and are difficult for air defense systems to detect. U.S. officials say, it's the first known use of this kind of weapon in combat.

CNN reporter Nada Bashir joins me now live from London with more on that. So, Nada, what are you learning about the capability of these types of hypersonic missiles, and how Russia is using them in Ukraine right now?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rosemary, Putin has repeatedly highlighted Russia's investment in these hypersonic missiles, and now, as you mentioned, we're hearing them being used for the first time in combat by Russia against Ukraine.

Now according to the Russian defense ministry, these missiles were used over the last few days to target what they claimed to have been a weapons depot in western Ukraine, and a fuel depot used by Ukrainian armed forces in the southern Mykolaiv region. Now this is significant of course as you mentioned can travel more than five times faster than the speed of sound traveling at a low trajectory which makes it more difficult to detect and they can maneuver to avoid missile defense systems. So that of course is a concern.

But we have heard from multiple sources from the U.S. telling us that actually, these missiles may have been used by Putin perhaps as a way to send a message to the west about Russian military capability. And actually, we've heard from U.S. Defense Secretary Llyod Austin who said that the use of such missiles isn't necessarily a game-changer. Take a listen.

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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You kind of question why he would do this, is he running low on precision ammunitions? Does he have like complete confidence in his ability to -- the ability of his troops to reestablish momentum?

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BASHIR: Regaining that momentum we have heard that Russian troops are waning in terms of moral. And in fact, we heard from Zelenskyy over the weekend saying that Russia had suffered unprecedented losses in terms of troop deaths. Now we have heard from both NATO and western officials that those deaths stand in the thousands, the figure estimated to be between 3,000 and 10,000.

And now we are hearing from Ukraine that least five senior Russian military generals have been killed by Ukrainian forces although CNN hasn't been able to independently verify these claims. Rosemary?

CHURCHI: All right, Nada Bashir joining us live from London, many thanks for that live report. I appreciate it.

Well, 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 after a short break.

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CHURCHI: In the U.S., the state of New York is reporting its lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in nearly eight months. With just 900 COVID related hospitalizations on Sunday, it is the first time since August of last year the numbers were this low. Vaccinations have helped, with more than 83 percent of all adults in the state fully vaccinated, but despite the trend, here is what top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says.

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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The bottom line is we likely will see an uptick in cases as we have seen the European countries particularly in the U.K., where they have had the same situation as we have had now. They had a BA 2, they have a relaxation of some of the restrictions such as indoor masking, and there is a waning of immunity. Hopefully we won't see a surge. I don't think we will.

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CHURCHI: Meantime, former U.S. FDA chief and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb says COVID vaccinations could soon become an annual shot. In East Asia, Hong Kong's leadership plans to lift some of the

region's most rigorous COVID restrictions after enforcing a zero COVID policy for months.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now from Hong Kong with more on this. Good to see you, Kristie. So, this lifting of COVID restrictions coming in the midst of thousands of new cases being reported, and a high level of deaths, does this indicate perhaps a change in policy, or something else?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, it is a significant change in policy. Earlier today, Hong Kong's top leader Carrie Lam announced changes to the cities strict zero COVID policy, a policy that has isolated this once thriving international financial and business center.

Earlier today, Carrie Lam announced that flight bans on nine countries including the U.S. and U.K. will be lifted started April the 1st. She also announced that two-week quarantine for most incoming travelers would be reduced to just one week but that would be dependent on the country of origin and the vaccination status of the incoming travelers.

She also announced that additional strict social distancing measures will remain in place until April the 21st, including a ban on social gatherings of more than two people. A number of businesses will remain closed until April the 21st, and schools will reopen April the 17th, and that plan for a mandatory compulsory city wide testing scheme, that is suspended.

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That, and the threat of family separations were two factors that forced a number of people to make that hard decision to flee, the mass exodus that we have been witnessing here in the city in the last couple of weeks. It was last week when Carrie Lam conceded that public tolerance for these measures had reached a high point. People just had enough.

We'll bring up a statement for you. This is what she said. And it was basically the financial sector that was a catalyst for this U-turn. Carrie Lam saying, "I have every strong feeling that people's tolerance is fading. I have a very good feel that some of our financial institutions are losing patience about this sort of isolated status of Hong Kong as Hong Kong is an international financial center," unquote.

But, Rosemary, the death toll continues to climb, hospitals are overwhelmed, morgues are running out of capacity. I want to share with you these very disturbing photos that have been circulating online. As you can see there, in hospitals, in the COVID ward, you see dead bodies piled up next to elderly patients.

These are the scenes that have traumatized the people of Hong Kong. Yes, the changes to the zero COVID policy is welcome news, but the city remains saddened by scenes like this. Rosemary? CHURCHI: Just horrifying images there. Kristie Lu Stout joining us

live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.

And thank you for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with another hour of CNN Newsroom in just a moment. Do stay with us.

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