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Lviv Residents United in Fight Against Russian Forces; Ukrainian Officials: Humanitarian Aid Dwindling; U.S. Officials Try to Walk Back Biden's Putin Comment; Afghan Refugees Forced to Flee Ukraine; Ukrainians Push Back in Kyiv; Nearly 4 Million Have Fled Ukraine to Nearby Counties; Will Smith Hits Chris Rock During Oscars after Joke about Wife; Shanghai Going into Lockdown for COVID Testing; Qatari Foreign Minister is Interviewed about Future of Russian Investment. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired March 28, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN breaking news.

[00:00:15]

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome, everyone, to our viewers around the world and also in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani, live in Lviv, Ukraine. It's just past 7 in the morning across this country.

Now, let's start with the very latest on what is happening on the ground here, and we're following breaking news developments.

Just hours ago, CNN teams on the ground in Kyiv heard a loud explosion followed by sirens as an adviser to President Zelenskyy says Russia is stepping up missile strikes across the country.

He named several cities that were targeted, including Kharkiv, which has already been the sight of widespread destruction. You're seeing some images of that city there taken Friday.

Russia's assault from the air is coming as Ukrainian forces launched counterattacks on the ground and even managed to gain back some territory against the Russian army. On Tuesday, the two sides are set for another round of talks in Turkey. So far these discussions have failed to yield any real tangible results.

Still, President Zelenskyy shared his hopes for the latest negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Our priorities and the negotiations are known. Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt. Effective security guarantees for our state are mandatory. Our goal is obvious. Peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GORANI: Well, meantime, Ukraine says there will be an immediate investigation after video surfaced showing what appears to be Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners in the knees, as they lay on the ground.

This was said to have taken place during an operation in the region of Kharkiv.

Ukraine's counterattacks on Russian forces have been successful in parts of the country as we were and we've been covering for the last several days. It comes with a tremendous cost, as Ukraine buries fallen soldiers.

And all the while, Ukraine's president is keeping pressure on western allies for more help on the ground. ITV's Geraint Vincent has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERAINT VINCENT, ITV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the borderlands, the battle for Ukraine rages on. Parts of the country where the Russian invasion began, the Ukrainian counterattack.

In the diplomatic standoff on either side of this war, meanwhile, American officials have been trying to clarify their position after the president described Vladimir Putin as a butcher who cannot remain in power.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the president, the White House, made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else. As you know, and as you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter.

VINCENT: The Russian defense ministry released footage of what it describes as its air strikes on Ukrainian ammunition stores. But it is Russia's bombing of cities, and how to stop it, that Ukraine's president is most concerned with.

Mr. Zelenskyy criticized his allies in the west, who are still pondering whether to supply his armed forces with fighter jets. If only, he said, they had 1 percent of the courage shown by Ukrainian soldiers.

Two of those soldiers were brought home to Lviv to be laid to rest today.

(on camera): The Ukrainian defense of this country has been valiant, and it continues to be extremely effective. But it comes at a painful cost. Among the mourners, defiance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have not 20 or 50,000 army. Today, 14 million Ukrainian people, huge Ukrainian army. Only victory. I believe in our victory.

VINCENT (voice-over): But in the immediate future of this war, a stalemate seems most likely. And the soldier's sacrifice won't stop.

Geraint Vincent, ITV News, western Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Kharkiv is one of the Ukrainian cities bombarded by Russian strikes over the past 24 hours. This is after Ukrainian troops recaptured several villages east of the city over the weekend.

Joining me now is Emma Graham-Harrison. She is a senior international affairs correspondent for "The Guardian," and she just recently left Kharkiv after reporting extensively from there and elsewhere in Ukraine. Thanks for being with us.

The situation on the ground. Obviously, the Ukrainians are defending as best they can on the ground. They're even pushing Russian forces back in some cases. But they don't have the ability to push back against what is coming from the skies. They keep saying over and over again they need fighter jets. Fighter jets, anti-aircraft weaponry that they're not getting.

Describe to us what you've been seeing over the last several days in your reporting.

EMMA GRAHAM-HARRISON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, "THE GUARDIAN": Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. And yes, I mean, you pretty much summed it up.

The Ukrainian troops are fighting incredibly hard on the outskirts of Kharkiv and having some military success there.

But the problem is that Russia is pursuing in Kharkiv, as it did in Mariupol and is doing in many other places, a policy of essentially punitive attacks on civilians.

So while the fighting between the militaries is going on on the outskirts of the town, Russia is showering the center of Kharkiv, civilian districts, with all kinds of munitions: with missiles, rockets, shells. And the extensiveness of the bombing there is -- is truly shocking.

I mean, they're sort of -- we're told there are 60 to 90 types of ammunition hitting -- hitting the city every day. They announced this offensive, essentially, against the civilian population with a missile hit on city hall. This huge imposing building that was totally hollowed out.

Firemen are now trying to sort of clear out the wreckage. They've already pulled out 30 bodies. They're expecting to find more casualties.

And essentially, because of the intensity of this bombardment, it's really -- it's one of the most intense in all of Ukraine, apart from outside, of course, Mariupol.

It's a city that's moved underground. So you go to Kharkiv. The streets are almost empty. People have moved into the metro. They stay in their apartment blocks. They come out to get food, maybe to get a tiny bit of air, and then they go back in.

So it's this sort of eerily empty scene of, you know, vast boulevards that are empty. It's a very beautiful city. It's the second biggest in Ukraine. It has a sort of incredible history.

And a lot of residents said to me that, in fact, their history, they're so close to the Russian border. It's a Russian-speaking city, or has been traditionally.

But that's perhaps part of the reason why they are being so punitively attacked. They feel that Putin, that you know, Russian authorities expected that Russian soldiers would be welcome in the city.

They got into the center of city on the first day of the war and were pushed back to the outskirts, where they've been held ever since. And -- and so many people in Kharkiv, from the governor down to people I was speaking to, you know, in their homes, were saying they felt that they were being punished, essentially, for this resistance, for this refusal to welcome Russian forces.

But the thing that --

(CROSSTALK)

GORANI: Continue your thought, but the Russians deny that they target civilians intentionally. But when you see the damage and the shells and the missiles that are hitting densely-populated residential areas. They tell a different story.

GRAHAM-HARRISON: Absolutely. You know, I walked, for instance, through a residential neighborhood in the north of the city. What I was going to say is that, although a lot of people have left, maybe half, two- thirds of the population, a full third have stayed.

And it's not -- some of them can't leave, but many of them say that keeping their city alive, keeping its spirit alive is part of the battle against Russia. They don't want Kharkiv to be an abandoned city.

So you know, a shell hits. People go and sweep up the glass, the rubbish. They try and sort of board up their house and carry on living there.

We went out with the rubbish collectors. They're now wearing flak jackets, because the rounds that they're on are regularly shelled. You know, their -- their vans are peppered with shrapnel. But they say, you know, the city will become unhygienic, people's morale will fall if rubbish is left to sort of pile up in the streets.

So they're going out literally risking their lives. And that kind of attitude in Kharkiv, you know, so many people we spoke to are the same. They said we're here to keep our city alive, its spirit alive. Even though they're living these incredibly difficult lives. You know, constant shelling the whole time, you know, landing, as you say, in civilian neighborhoods.

I mean, while we were there, one place where we've been watching these -- these rubbish collectors. About 500 meters away there was a queue of people waiting to collect humanitarian aid. People are running out of food. Of course, you can imagine economic life has stopped.

And a rocket just slammed into this queue of civilians and killed them. Giving a sense, perhaps, of how dangerous the city is, one of the people who was killed was a woman who had been living in the metro for a month since the war began. And she'd come up very briefly for air. And, you know, even those few minutes of trying to just get a little bit of sunshine and a bit of fresh air, that cost her her life. I mean, that's how dangerous Kharkiv is at the moment.

GORANI: And what is the -- the -- I mean, you said a third, just about, of the population of the city has remained almost an act of resistance in itself.

[00:10:05]

I mean, if by some miracle, the war ended tomorrow, how does a city like that even return from the state that it's in now? Its population, its -- just its life, the life that once inhabited that place that is now hollowed out by Russian missiles, bombs, and shelves.

GRAHAM-HARRISON: Well, as you said, I mean, the destruction is terrible. You sort of walk through the city's center, and there's whole buildings kind of -- the holes punched in the street. You know, not just shell damage to the outside of a building, but an entire building collapsed by the force of, you know, very powerful missiles.

But everybody I spoke to is determined to rebuild. I think that the governor of Kharkiv summed it up. He said, you know, we can rebuild our city. We will rebuild it.

The thing that breaks my heart is the people who've died, the families. Because you can't rebuild, you know, a shattered family once someone's been killed.

And the scale of the death there. I mean, we went to a morgue, and -- and they just can't keep up with the pace of death. As bodies -- you know, they couldn't even keep them all inside the morgue. There were dozens and dozens of bodies stacked in the courtyard, some of them just wrapped in -- in sort of black plastic body bags, some of them wrapped in blankets, because it seems they're running out, even, of -- of the body bags.

You know, there is a terrible, terrible toll being taken on the civilians of this city.

GORANI: Thank you so much for the reporting that you've --

GRAHAM-HARRISON: I was just going to say --

GORANI: Tell me what your thoughts are. GRAHAM-HARRISON: Sorry to interrupt. I was going to say, another thing that might give you a sense of the scale of the suffering and the intensity of the attacks. We went to a hospital where doctors and nurses have been living since the start of the war. The attacks have been so intense, and they have such a strict curfew. And they have so many patients coming in that they have not left that building for a month.

They've just been there trying to save the lives as the patients come in. There, you can hear the bombing around you. There was a gunfight less than a kilometer away. The windows are sandbagged. It's all blackout curtains.

The patients are mostly in the corridors, because they're very aware that multiple hospitals have been targeted in this war. Dozens and dozens have been recorded by the -- by the United Nations as having been hit.

But they're still there. Again, they're determined to leave [SIC] and save as many lives as they can. Determined to stay, sorry.

GORANI: Yes. Thank you, Emma Graham-Harrison there, for highlighting that so many medical facilities have been hit in just a few weeks. Thank you so much for your reporting.

U.S. officials are trying to walk back President Joe Biden's fiery remarks about Vladimir Putin, when he said the Russian president cannot remain in power. You'll remember, he said that was an ad-libbed moment at the end of his speech in Warsaw.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has the details from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With President Biden back in Washington, the White House continued to try to clarify his comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power.

Those comments, which the president made in a speech in Poland on Saturday caught many of his aides by surprise, as they were not part of his prepared speech and seemed to suggest --

(voice-over): -- he wanted to see regime change in Russia, which would mark a significant change in U.S. foreign policy.

But President Biden was asked directly by reporters here in Washington on Sunday whether he meant that he wanted regime change in Russia, and he said no.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken further elaborated on what the White House's view on the matter is.

BLINKEN: The president, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else. As you know, and as you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a

strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter. In this case, as in any case, it's up to the people of the country in question. It's up to the Russian people.

SAENZ (on camera): Now that moment really marked the third time that the White House had to clarify something that the president said regarding Russia and Ukraine during his trip abroad.

The White House very aware of the tense situation and how every word matters at this moment.

(voice-over): Now, while the president was abroad, he really was trying to shore up support and signal western unity against Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of Ukraine.

But the White House is also fully aware that the work is not complete simply because that foreign trip is over. And they will continue to look for ways to hold Russia and punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion, as well as further offer support --

(on camera): -- to the Ukrainian people as they continue to defend themselves.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, coming up, with Russia's relentless shelling of civilians, many Ukrainians are being forced to decide if they should leave the only home they've ever known. We'll have that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:18:46]

GORANI: The heavy fighting in the city of Mariupol is devastating the lives of those who remain. Many who have taken shelter in basements during the Russian bombardment are returning to find their homes completely destroyed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've lived here since my birth. My husband, as well. We got married here and had babies. What now? What is left for us? I don't want to go anywhere from Mariupol, but there's nowhere to live here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, this comes as Ukrainian officials say humanitarian aid is beginning to wane, adding that more support is desperately needed right now.

According to the U.N., more than 3.8 million people have now fled Ukraine to nearby countries. And another six and a half million are displaced inside Ukraine.

Afghan refugees who fled their homeland only last year were starting a new life in Ukraine. Imagine that. Now, with the Russian military invading their adoptive country, they find themselves fleeing, again.

Josh Campbell has the story of one Afghan family's struggle to get out of Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A nation under siege. Brutal shelling of civilian targets. Families fractured. And now, a humanitarian crisis, as millions desperately leave Ukraine. Their fate, uncertain.

[00:20:13]

FATEMA HOSSEINI, AFGHAN REFUGEE: It happened so quickly. And my parents, my mom, especially, she was so worried. And she kept crying.

CAMPBELL: Among those fleeing Putin's war, families who are no stranger to conflict. Fatema Hosseini is an Afghan refugee, now in the United States. She's been desperately trying to get her parents out of Poland, after fleeing the invasion.

Sayette (ph) and Masuma now find themselves escaping possible death for a fourth time. And, it isn't their first time evading Russia's regime.

MASUMA HOSSEINI, AFGHAN REFUGEE (through translator): I was very young when the war erupted in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union fought in Afghanistan, then we went to Iran as refugees.

CAMPBELL: The 1979 Soviet invasion would last a decade.

M. HOSSEINI (through translator): When it became calm, we returned to Afghanistan. Then, when we were there for a few years, the Taliban came to power. Then, we became refugees again.

CAMPBELL: Once again, refugees in a foreign land but eventually, returning home to their native country after U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban.

But after America's chaotic withdrawal in 2021, the family feared that the job in the Afghan army would put him in the crosshairs of the resurgent Taliban regime.

ABDULFAZI HOSSEINI, AFGHAN REFUGEE (through translator): I was not worried about myself, at all. I was more worried about my family. For example, my mother and father. God forbid if something happens to them.

CAMPBELL: As thousands desperately sought to leave Afghanistan, it was the Ukrainian military that came to their rescue, launching a transport plane to exfiltrate the Hosseinis and countless others.

A. HOSSEIN[: We brought no clothes with us to Ukraine from Afghanistan.

CAMPBELL: They resettled in Kyiv. But soon came the familiar sounds of war.

M. HOSSEINI: At first, we had no intention to leave at all, because we had witnessed so much war. We suddenly, we heard a siren. It was very terrifying.

CAMPBELL: With little money, few possessions, and unable to speak the local language, traveling to neighboring Poland was marked by constant challenge and heartache.

M. HOSSEINI: The most difficult thing was the train station. That I really did not know how to get on the train.

CAMPBELL: So your mom is standing there, in front of a packed train, talking to you. She's got the baby.

F. HOSSEINI: Exactly.

CAMPBELL: And you're pleading with them to get on that train?

F. HOSSEINI: Yes. Because I thought, that is the only option for them.

CAMPBELL: Fatema says her grueling journey out of Ukraine was only made possible due to random acts of kindness by Ukrainians they met along the way.

F. HOSSEINI: People there are beautiful. I mean, they're kind, and they don't -- they don't hesitate to approach to and help you.

CAMPBELL: Now in Warsaw, their struggle is far from over. The Hosseinis hope to find refuge in Canada. But with no funds to buy the expensive plane tickets, they wait.

Despite their own endless hardship, the Hosseinis are grateful to be alive.

M. HOSSEINI: I pray that no one, no other country, no person on the face of the earth becomes a refugee. That all live in peace.

CAMPBELL (on camera): Can you imagine a day when members of your family are no longer refugees, fleeing conflict?

F. HOSSEINI: Hopefully, they won't have to, ever again, move to another country because of war and safety issues. That's what I'm hopeful for. That's what I'm praying for.

Josh Campbell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, Russia's push on Kyiv has stalled in recent days, but Ukraine's capital is still enduring the brutal reality of war. We've got the latest on that, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:27:33]

GORANI: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani, reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine.

More details on our top story this hour. Ukraine's president says his country is ready to accept a neutral, non-nuclear status as part of a peace deal with Russia. This comes as both sides are expected to meet this week for another round of negotiations, which will take place in Turkey.

On the ground, though, Ukrainian officials say Russia is launching more and more missile strikes across the country, especially in Mariupol. The city has been the target of relentless Russian attack since the beginning. And the near-constant fighting has trapped thousands of civilians inside.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have gained some ground, launching counter offensives to take back territory from Russian forces in some parts of the country.

But the country's military intelligence chief suggested Sunday that Russia is now changing its focus to the south and east, attempting to carve Ukraine in two, after failing to take the capital, Kyiv.

Meantime, in recent days, the Russian push for Ukraine's capital has stalled, as we've been reporting, with Ukrainian forces pushing forward and, in some cases, gaining territory back.

Our Fred Pleitgen is in Kyiv with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyiv, of course, still is very much a city that is on a war footing. People here still do remain very concerned for their safety.

However, I do believe that today may have been a little bit more quiet than what we've seen here in the past couple of days, pretty much this entire week.

However, we are still hearing those air raid sirens. We're still hearing automatic weapons fire. We're still hearing shelling, as well. A lot of that could be due to the fact that the Ukrainians are saying that they're pressing that counter-offensive towards the north of the city. It's through northwest and the northeast of the city, where they say that they've gained back some ground from the Russian military.

But of course, there going up there is still pretty tough for them. We managed to get up to a village today to the north of Kyiv. A small town, where the people who lived there, the few that actually still remain, they tell us that the Russian military really hasn't managed to gain any sort of ground over the past couple of weeks.

But what they're doing is they are heavily shelling that area, a lot of them, of course, indiscriminate shelling, and it's really unsafe for the people who still remain there.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainian forces, they say that they're pretty confident that they're further going to be able to push the Russians back. But their leadership, they understand that these gains that the Ukrainians are making, they're still pretty fragile.

[00:3008]

And of course, the Russian army has a huge force here outside of Kyiv and does remain very dangerous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Fred Pleitgen, thanks very much.

When the Russian invasion began, it was staggering to hear estimates that nearly 5 million people could be forced out of Ukraine. Just weeks later, we've nearly reached 4 million.

CNN's Kyung Lah shows us what those refugees face when they finally reach a safe destination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the main train stations in Warsaw, Poland, where after people cross the border or if they're able to make it directly here, they can transfer to other parts of Europe.

Poland has taken in some 2 million refugees. Three hundred fifty thousand of them, more than 350,000 of them, according to the mayor, have decided to stay in the city.

This is a city that has seen a population growth of more than 15 percent in just a month. So what happens when people arrive here at the train station? They'll pick up something like this. And they'll get and figure out the steps of what life is going to look like now.

How to get the equivalent of a Social Security number here in Poland. Access to health care, trying to figure out how to get a job, how to get their kids in school.

And then, others might transit to other parts of the continent. And so some of those women and children, they're going into rooms like this. That white wall that you see there, that's for privacy, for women and children only. And that room is completely full.

But we're hearing stories about people who have fled the country. Shelling just two hours away from them. One of them is Dima Rosenko (ph), a 15-year-old athlete on the Ukrainian national team. He's a long jumper, left his parents behind. He doesn't have any siblings, but he managed to come here, traveling with his coach, because he's an athlete, and a Polish university is taking him in.

DIMA ROSENKO (PH), REFUGEE: I feel more safety, and I feel help from the Polish people. They help us very well. It's hard, but we believe that we will go back to Ukraine.

LAH: And little acts of kindness like those people just donating dog food and water for the many animals. A lot of women, children, people who are traveling with their pets, you know, finding things like this along the way.

But this is a strain on Warsaw's infrastructure because of the number of people who arrived here seemingly overnight.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Warsaw.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, now for something completely different after the break. It's Hollywood's biggest night in Los Angeles. But people are talking about just one thing. If you're just waking up around -- across Europe, believe me, this will be your main topic of conversation, probably all day.

My colleague Lynda Kinkade has the controversy surrounding Will Smith and Chris Rock coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:36:54]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

It was the biggest night in Hollywood, the Academy Awards show. And it had an unscripted fight that stunned the audience.

It started when Chris Rock made a joke onstage about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. Now, she has alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder which causes hair loss. Will Smith, Jada's husband, then took to the stage and punched Rock in the face. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: Uh-oh! Oh, wow! Wow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Although it appeared to be a joke at first, Smith returned to his heat and yelled at Rock using some pretty foul language. Viewers at home did not hear the entire exchange, as censors muted it.

For more, I'm joined by Rebecca Sun, the editor at "The Hollywood Reporter." Good to have you with us, Rebecca.

So I have to say, when -- when that happened, my phone lit up with messages saying, Was that scripted? Was that meant to be a piece of comedy? Explain for us what went down.

REBECCA SUN, EDITOR, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Yes, I think as your viewers just saw, Chris Rock made a little joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's appearance, you know, just as part as the general celebrity roasting that comes with the Oscars. S

But you know, she -- you know, she didn't think it was funny. You could tell by the expression on her face. But then, when Will Smith kind of got up there, there was still a chance that maybe this was a bit. Maybe this was they were going to kind of pretend to be fighting.

But Chris Rock was very visibly shaken. And you know, ABC had to mute the sound for quite a long time, as viewers at home could clearly read will Smith's lips. And he said -- and I'll leave out the profanity -- he basically said, Keep my wife's name out of your mouth. And it was not a joke.

KINKADE: Yes, and of course, his wife does have alopecia, which is this autoimmune disorder which causes hair loss.

Smith went on to win Best Actor for "King Richard" and then apologized.

Are you still with us, Rebecca?

SUN: Yes, I am. Sorry, I thought you were going to roll the clip. Yes. Well, I want to say that it's very -- it's clear he apologized to the Academy. And he apologized to his fellow nominees, you know. I would assume for sort of causing a disturbance.

He did not apologize to Chris Rock, the man that he hit on stage on television. So you know, and he sort of alluded to the incident by talking about Richard Williams, the real-life man that he played in "King Richard" and about how Richard Williams was a man that fiercely defended his family. And sort of you could easily read between the lines and -- and kind of interpret that as Will Smith's explanation for why he took those actions.

KINKADE: Yes, so tried to bring it all back to the film and protecting his family.

I want to talk about some of the other wards now. Because Jane Campion is now the third woman in history to win an Academy Award for Best Director for "Power of the Dog."

[00:40:08]

SUN: Yes. And it's significant that she was also the first. Right? So this is a full-circle moment for Jane Campion. A woman has never repeated as Best Director, so that is -- that's hugely significant. I'm -- a nominee. She was -- this is not the first time she was nominated. Back in 1994 for "The Piano."

And so, you know, that was not a surprise, I think, that she had been picking up a lot of the best directing accolades throughout this award season.

So certainly, you know, back-to-back female winners of the Best Director race. I think we're a long way from some sort of sustainable parity. But certainly, very amazing to have Chloe Zhao last year and now Jane Campion this year being awarded Best Director by the Academy Awards.

KINKADE: And in terms of Best Picture, Rebecca, many thought it would go to "Power of the Dog." But it was "Coda" that claimed that Oscar.

SUN: Yes. I mean, I think that, you know, by this weekend, "Coda" and "Power of the Dog" were kind of running neck to neck. Early -- "Power of the Dog" was an early favorite, but "Coda" picked up a lot of key wins in other -- in other awards shows late in the season, like the SAG Awards, winning Best Ensemble.

And so it wasn't a total surprise, especially when "Coda" won Adapted Screenplay earlier -- earlier tonight. That's something that Oscars watchers will know, that off that screenplay win is often a great predictor of Best Picture.

And it's an incredible milestone for inclusion. I mean, we can't even say that, you know, there have been many films that have spotlighted deaf or disabled communities at all. And so for this one to go all the way to the end and win Best Picture is -- is actually a really significant achievement.

KINKADE: Yes, exactly.

In terms of Best Supporting Actress, Ariana DeBose from "West Side Story" edged out the likes of Kirsten Dunst for "Power of the Dog" and Judi Dench for "Belfast," and in doing so, made history.

SUN: Yes, Ariana DeBose, there's a couple of different milestones there with her. She's the first Afro-Latina ever to win an acting Oscar. She is out LGBTQ, and she talked about that in her acceptance speech, talking about, you know, really showing queer women of color that there's a place for us. That's a famous reference to a lyric in "West Side Story."

And this is, I believe, maybe the first time that an actress has ever -- that the same character -- how do I put this? -- that one character has yielded multiple Oscars for different actresses. Rita Moreno, of course, winning the Oscar for playing Anita in "West Side Story" back in the 1960s.

KINKADE: And so overall, you obviously cover these very closely, was there any standout surprise for you, apart from the Will Smith punch?

SUN: You know, I mean, we were going into this thinking that this was going to be a pretty predictable night. And in fact, I wouldn't say there was any real surprises in terms of the awards that were handed out.

You know, even the ones that we weren't sure about, you know, Best Actress, you know, Jessica Chastain, I think, was -- nobody was surprised she would win, although she wasn't, like, as much of a runaway frontrunner as Ariana DeBose or Troy Kotsur from "Coda" was. -

But it's all -- it's all about the slap, I've got to say. I don't think a single person could have predicted that, especially where the conversation this year was about how fewer and fewer people have been watching the Oscars. And the producers had been trying to come up with, you know, exciting ways to get the audience back. You know, inviting Instagram influencers, controversially, excluding many of the below-the-line categories to non-televised events. Just trying to get as many people in.

And at the end of the day, all you have to do was have Will Smith hit Chris Rock onstage.

KINKADE: Exactly. A moment that will go down in Oscars history, for sure. Rebecca Sun, good to have you with us from "Hollywood Reporter." Thanks so much.

SUN: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, still ahead, with COVID cases surging, Shanghai is now going to go into lockdown as health authorities try to test tens of millions of people. We're going to have a live report when we come back.

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[00:48:24]

KINKADE: Welcome back. China's financial hub is going into lockdown for mass COVID-19 testing. The Shanghai government says half the city begins four days of lockdown on Monday. The other half will follow on Friday.

All of Shanghai's roughly 25 million residents must get tested to maintain a green health code status, which allows them into grocery stores and other public areas.

China has reported more than 6,200 new cases Sunday. More than half of them were in Shanghai. The city has now seen more than 16,000 infections since the latest outbreak began on March 1.

CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, joins us now for more. So Steven, so many countries around the world are dropping restrictions and opening up. And now we've got Shanghai locking people down, its lockdown in two stages.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Lynda. This really follows days of confusion or even chaos on the streets and also online in terms of what the authorities would do to Shanghai, which is experiencing its biggest surge in COVID infections, since the pandemic began.

Now, for days, the city actually denied it would impose a citywide lockdown, with police even launching investigations against so-called rumor mongers about the city's imminent closure.

But when you look at the numbers, though, you mentioned 16,000 since March. Obviously, a huge deal here in China. There's also consistent suspicion about this number being under-reported.

But when we dive a bit deeper, more than 97 percent of these cases are so-called asymptomatic cases, which really matches what we have seen elsewhere, meaning the Omicron variant, which is the dominant variant in this wave, even though highly contagious, resulting in milder cases, or even cases with no symptoms that do not require a lot of hospital care.

[00:50:08]

So, up to this point, the city had prided themselves on its less disruptive approach to COVID containment, even giving hope to a lot of people that this would eventually be adopted by the rest of the country.

But, instead, of course, the exact opposite has happened with the authorities, as you mentioned, now adopting some of the harsher measures we had previously seen only outside of Shanghai, with millions of residents now being confined to their homes and the city's public transportation system largely shut, including the world's biggest metro system.

That, of course, has led to a lot of panic buying on the streets, at stores, supermarkets, and even takeout restaurants, as well as, of course, problems at the city's hospitals, because many of them have been closed down because of COVID or been dedicated to treating COVID patients, leaving a lot of patients seeking medical attention for other illnesses being turned away or even dying, at least in one case, as a result.

So all of this has resulted in a lot of fatigue, frustration, or even anger really bursting on social media. But all of this, of course is ultimately up to the Beijing leadership to decide.

As of now, Lynda, it seems they are determined to stick to their zero- COVID policy, because the most important thing on their calendar is this Communist Party National Congress later this year. It seems they're simply not going to tolerate COVID cases raging across the country as Xi Jinping is expected to take his third term in office -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Wow. Some serious news this week. All right. Steven jiang, we'll touch base with you later. Thanks so much.

Well, I want to go back to our top story, Russia's war in Ukraine. Qatar's foreign minister tells CNN that his country opposes the use of power against a sovereign country. He also says Qatar will not plan any new investments in Russia and parts of Europe until there's more political stability.

CNN's Becky Anderson spoke with the minister on the sidelines of the Doha forum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL-THANI, QATAR'S FOREIGN MINISTER: Our position has been very, very clear. We are against any act of aggression or any threatening of uses of power used against a sovereign country. Or, you know, trying to undermine the territorial integrity of any country.

And we made this very clear. We have to stick to international law and in the short term, this needs to be respected. Because, otherwise, the world would be in chaos.

So we keep our communication channel, with all the parties. I was in Moscow approximately ten days ago. I had the chance to have a conversation with the foreign minister of Russia, talking about the Ukrainian issue, but also keeping the communication ongoing with our Ukrainian counterparts. Trying to help, or offering our help, our contribution to deescalate the situation and put an end for this war.

BECKY ANDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, CNN ABU DHABI AND ANCHOR: Is it your sense that President Putin wants peace at this point?

AL-THANI: Well, I cannot really say what President Putin is thinking about, but what I believe from my conversation with my contact there in Russia, that they are willing to engage on the demands that they have been put forward.

Now, how far the Ukrainian government are willing to give on those demands, this is the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian people's decision.

But our interest now is the priority is really to create some safe environment for the people, for the civilians over there. There is a deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which is unprecedented.

So I think that should be the priority. We should focus on having a ceasefire, humanitarian corridors, bring the humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. And instead of having this conflict and disagreement on the battlefield, to be around the table.

ANDERSON: The West has imposed stringent sanctions on Russia, in an effort to squeeze the Kremlin at this point. And the Qatar Investment Authority, or the QIA, has a sizeable investment in the Russian oil giant Rosneft. Is Qatar prepared to withdraw from Russia? Do you unwind that position?

AL-THANI: Actually, right now, with the current situation, we are not thinking about any new investments there. Even, by the way, in Europe, until we have some clarity on the stability of the situation.

But, you know, our decisions that we have took the investment at that time was based on a commission assessment. And these investments are still ongoing.

ANDERSON: So you will make no new investments?

AL-THANI: Right now, in the current environment, I think that the investment is really under a lot of review.

ANDERSON: The Norwegian Sovereign (ph) Fund has unwound its position in Russian companies. You're saying that Qatar investment in Russia is under review at this point AL-THANI: For the current -- for the current now -- the current time, our investment decisions, as I told you, is based on commercial assessment. And what we have currently in Russia, we are not -- we are not thinking about increasing that these days until we see a better atmosphere and more political stability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, Becky Anderson's full interview with Qatar's foreign minister airs 3 p.m. GMT time, right here on CNN.

Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us. Our coverage, live from Lviv, Ukraine, continues after a short break. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

GORANI: Hello, everybody, and welcome.