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White House Quick to Defend President Biden's Words; President Zelenskyy Remain Consistent in His Goal; People Call for More Help for Ukraine; Aid to Ukraine is Winding Down; Zelenskyy: Ukraine is Ready to Accept Neutral Status; International Rescue Committee Warns of "Catastrophic Health Crisis"; Shanghai Going Into Lockdown for COVID Testing; Former NBA Star Trying to Boost African Economy; Finding Solace in the Mountains; Ukrainian Forced to Flee Shortly Before Giving Birth. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 28, 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]
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HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States at this hour. I'm Hala Gorani coming to live from Lviv, Ukraine.
It is just passed 10 in the morning across this country. We're following breaking developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of trying to, quote, "wipe Ukraine off the face of the earth" as it stepped up missile strikes across the country. He named several cities that were targeted Sunday night including three to the west of the capital and Kharkiv to the east as well.
This, as we are seeing new images of the widespread devastation left behind by the brutal Russian assault on cities like Mariupol. Russia's attacks from the air coming as Ukrainian forces are launching counter attacks on the ground. And some of them are quite effective, they're gaining back some territory.
On Tuesday, Russia and Ukraine are set for another round of talks in Turkey. And ahead of that, President Zelensky says his country is now ready to accept neutral non-nuclear status. He shared some hopes for the latest negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): Our priorities in the negotiations are known. Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond a 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, CNN has correspondents tracking developments in key locations. We'll have reports of this hour from some from Salma Abdelaziz in Slavsko, Ukraine. Nic Robertson is in Brussels. Atika Shubert is in Valencia, Spain. But we begin with ITV's Geraint Vincent in Lviv.
GERAINT VINCENT, CORRESPONDENT, ITV NEWS: In the borderlands the battle for Ukraine rages on. In parts of the country where the Russian invasion began, a Ukrainian counterattack. In the diplomatic standoff on either side of this war meanwhile, American officials have been trying to clarify their position after their president described Vladimir Putin as a butcher, who cannot remain in power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 you've heard us say repeatedly. We do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else for that matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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 criticize 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. 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: We have not 20 or 60,000 army. Today, 14 million Ukrainian people, huge Ukrainian army. Only victory. I believe in our victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VINCENT: But in the immediate future of this war. A stalemate seems most likely. And the soldier sacrifice won't not stop.
Geraint Vincent, ITV News, Western Ukraine.
GORANI: Ukraine is promising to hold an immediate investigation after a video surfaced showing what appears to be Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners in the legs. This was set to have taken place during an operation in the Kharkiv region. The head of Ukraine's armed forces did not refer directly to this incident. But said staged videos could be distributed to discredit Ukrainian soldiers. He also said Ukraine's forces strictly adhere to international humanitarian law. This video has been circulating online, you may have seen it. And hopefully we will get to the bottom there of what happened.
[03:04:57]
Meantime, U.S. officials are trying to walk back U.S. President Joe Biden's fiery remarks about Vladimir Putin on Saturday. Mr. Biden said the Russian president cannot remain in power, and on Sunday the U.S. ambassador to NATO called Mr. Biden's comment a principled -- principled human reaction to the misery he saw while visiting refugees. But while the U.S. administration sought to clarify Mr. Biden's words, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. approved of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OKSANA MARKAROVA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: It's clear to us that Russia is a terrorist state, led by a war criminal. And we are working day and night, and fighting fiercely to defend our land, and to defend our democracy. And everyone should be brought to justice. So, I think it would be difficult to run a state from the Hague.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, we are joined now by CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson in Brussels. And not every western ally of the United States was happy. You could tell Macron, in particular, the French president. That the U.S. President Joe Biden said that, those words in that unscripted moment in Poland.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Emmanuel Macron has said that he wouldn't use words or actions that would escalate the situation at the moment. He has said that he is an ongoing conversation still with President Putin. And for that reason, he wouldn't seek to talk about -- or hint at a regime change in Russia.
You know, when we try to sort of look at this and see is there a gap here between the U.S. Position and some of its European allies, there's a huge amount of work that's been done in the United States recently. And President Biden really has come a long way --
GORANI: OK.
ROBERTSON: -- uniting the European Union with his position. But we -- there is a difference in position, you know, Emmanuel Macron in the past few days has said that he will continue diplomacy right up until the last moment, that he's continuing to talk and has had extensive conversations both with President Zelenskyy and President Putin in Russia.
The U.S. position going into this war initiated by Russia has been that the United States would continue diplomacy right up until the last moment. That moment being where Russia put troops into Ukraine. So, there is a difference in position here. And Emmanuel Macron really is at the forefront of European leaders having a dialogue with President Putin.
It is clear that there is a difference in position, but I think with this time it will be too much to overstate that what President Biden has said has undone all the work that has been put up until now.
But it certainly represents, you know, Emmanuel Macron still thinks that you can talk to President Putin to try to sort of bring about a peace initiative that can work. And he is at the forefront of trying to do that, Hala.
GORANI: So why would Macron still have this type of optimism? I don't know if we should call it optimism, but at least hope that he can talk to Putin. I think he has spoken to Vladimir Putin the Russian president 16 times, or 17 times. Correct me if I'm wrong. Nothing seems to be getting to him, in terms of stopping his assault on this country.
ROBERTSON: Yes, and he was one of the last European leaders to actually go to visit President Putin before the war began. Having a more than five-hour meeting with him. And a press conference, and another hour-long session with him. There was a sense from the Elysee Palace, Macron's office in Paris. Of course, that he wasn't getting through to President Putin. And he wasn't having a decisive impact on the Russian leaders thinking.
It's still hard to see what impact he's having at the moment. But it a diplomatic track that the European Union is very keen to try to exploit. Or at least -- or at least Germany, France, and not the eastern members of the European Union still this opportunity to try to end the war through dialogue. Because the alternatives are far, far worse.
But it is hard to explain why President Macron thinks that he's going to have some opportunity here. People have said he's got an election coming up in a month or so. That he has positioning himself as well to be the sort of replacement of Angela Merkel, if you will. The dealing most powerful figure within the European Union. And certainly, I've spoken to European Union diplomats and they would say it is Macron at the moment who is out in the lead, the leadership.
The leadership in Germany that's taken over, Olaf Scholz taken over from Angela Merkel is still fresh into the job. And it's Macron that sort of leading the way. Macron is positioning himself, but can he actually position himself to make a difference and bring about a positive dialogue? That's not clear.
GORANI: Yes, absolutely, I mean, Olaf Scholz is a new chancellor, Angela Merkel was really one of the important European figureheads. She's gone.
[03:10:02]
And by the way, she had for all intents and purposes -- maybe not friendly, but she had a direct communication style with Putin. Not least because they could speak the same language. Let me ask you about Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president
saying he would accept a new nuclear and non-nuclear status for his country. That -- that's already -- that was already the status of Ukraine before. They gave up their nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees. How would it change anything to come up --
ROBERTSON: So --
GORANI: -- to say this overtly and explicitly at the stage?
ROBERTSON: Yes, and it's been talking to independent Russian journalists to try to reach that part of the Russian audience. That Russian pro-state media propaganda doesn't get to. That could be as many as a quarter of the population in Russia. Potentially even more. And what he is trying to do is undo the Kremlin's propaganda, and part of the Kremlin's propaganda over the past few months has been to say that Ukraine wants to have nuclear weapons.
So, he seems to be targeting that. He is talking about having neutrality in Ukraine. but it's some important caveats, which is whatever changes would come in Ukraine's status there would have to be an independent referendum in the country. And it would also require Ria's troops to go back to pre-invasion positions. That could take some time to manage.
GORANI: Nic Robertson in Brussels, thank you so much. We'll stay in close touch with you throughout the day. A new round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will be held this week in Istanbul as we've been discussing with Nic.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says peace is the goal of the negotiations. But in an interview with independent Russian journalists Sunday, he put certain conditions on his participation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): We won't sit down at the table at all if all we talk about is some demilitarization or some de-Nazification. For me, these are absolutely incomprehensible things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Atika Shubert joins us live from Valencia, Spain. And were Russians able to watch this interview with these independent Russian journalists inside their own country, Atika?
ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Well, it would've been a lot more difficult for them to do that. The media -- basically the media board that regulates the media in Russia effectively warned Russian publications not to publish any parts of the interview. So, it does make it much more difficult.
And as you know, these draconian laws have been passed in Russia. Which means that any journalist who is reporting independently could face up to 15 years in prison just for calling what is officially the special military operations in Ukraine as a war. So, to publish this interview would be very risky. Which makes it all
the more extraordinary. What makes a very interesting is that Zelensky tries to address the Russian ordinary Russian person. And he speaks fluent Russian. He speaks in this very down to earth manner.
And while he talks about things like negotiations in the state of the war, he answers questions at ordinary Russians might -- might be wondering such as why are Russian athletes banned from international competition? And he talks about, you know, why international athletes can be used to burnish the image of the state, how the Kremlin can use them. And why they should not be allowed to participate.
So, he takes the time to answer a lot of these questions of ordinary Russians who may be wondering. And I think that is very interesting to see him try to reach beyond the state propaganda and appealed directly to the Russian people.
It will be a lot harder for people to access independent media but there are certainly ways, and it's interesting that the -- that a lot of independent Russian media are going out of their way to find a way to talk to him and get that message across, Hala.
GORANI: All right, Atika Shubert, thank you very much for that. After a quick break, dealing with the sudden flow of refugees can be a huge logistical challenge. Just ahead, I'll speak with a top relief official in Moldova and find out how they are managing the hundreds of thousands crossing the border.
[03:15:00]
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GORANI: Well, in Washington, a show solidarity for Ukraine and its people. Supporters rally at the Lincoln Memorial to call for more help from the west. They waved Ukrainian flags, and held signs with captions like Kyiv is the capital of freedom.
Among the crowd, several Ukrainian led charities and advocacy groups. They are providing aid to Ukrainians who have not been able to flee the country or who have not wanted to flee the country. Families in Mykolaiv have seen their homes reduced to rubble by Russian air raids. Now they are forced to choose, stay and rebuild, or try to escape.
Here's Tatiana and what's left of her home just trying to care for her houseplants. The rocket that hit her neighborhood killed two of her neighbors. Their home is nothing more than a hole in the ground now but Tatiana is determined to stay and help Ukrainian soldiers any way she can. But the constant danger of Russian shelling is forcing many others to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TATIANA OLEXANDRVINA, MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): We were already thinking about going to bed. I got up for water, and suddenly heard a noise. I dropped the cup, and ran to the bathroom. And at the moment, everything started to fall apart. I think the shell hit the neighbors, and all the doors were knocked it out.
Our doors and the neighbor's stores flew out, hitting us in the corridor. We will fight till the end as best we can, some with weapons and some with help with moral support and by transferring funds to our army. Our guy should have everything, helmets and body armor.
VIKTOR MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE RESIDENT (through translator): A strong bombardment of our village began yesterday at 9 o'clock. Hailstorms, and rockets. The houses burned down. We barely escape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:20:06]
GORANI: Many Ukrainians have fled with no more than handbags and backpacks. The heavy fighting in the city of Mariupol, for instance, is devastating the lives of those who remain, and those who've taken shelter in basements during the Russian bombardment are returning to find their homes completely gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN (through translator): I've lived 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 is no one to live here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, this comes as Ukrainian officials say that the humanitarian aid coming into this country is beginning to slow. They say more support is desperately needed now. According to the U.N., more than 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine to nearby countries, another six and a half million, have been displaced internally.
Well, Lars Johan Lonnback is the chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration in Moldova, and he joins me now live from there. Talk to us a little about at this stage of the conflict those refugees who are making it to Moldova. They're now part of the first wave, there may be people who had no choice but to leave and no contacts within Moldova. What's it been like just in the last few days for you?
LARS JOHAN LONNBACK, MISSION CHIEF, IOM MOLDOVA: Well, in the last couple of days we've seen refugees pouring into this very small country. I have to imagine that this a little country, 2.8 million inhabitants in Moldova, Europe's poorest country is more or less surrounded by a giant in comparison, a country of 44 million that is in this enormous conflict.
And, therefore, naturally, a small country like Moldova is under a very strong pressure. About a half million refugees have entered and are moving all through Romania. But still, a size of 100,000 are still here in Moldova. And mainly being sheltered and being welcomed by the Moldovan population here in their homes. Also, the people who are coming across the border are leaving their
menfolk behind who are fighting in the army to many women, many children, and also, very many elderlies, their pets coming over, but they are being greeted by and large by the Moldovan population, which is very encouraging for us to see.
GORANI: Indeed, but longer term you must have some concerns if this war drags on, and you have these refugee flows, you know, continue to flow across borders, and people needing long term assistance. Their kids need to go to school, they need medical care, there's a language barrier in many cases. Can you talk to us about that?
LONNBACK: Well, absolutely. As we have been seeing the situation for a month, another month maybe, but further down the line, naturally there is a need for schooling for the children. And there can be some schooling in Russian, but of course, we'll have to have a lot of remote learning as we've been seeing over the COVID situation. A lot of livelihoods and programs that we need to put into place.
We have as the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR leading this refugee response plan to look at to transition and recovery. so that needs to come on stream in the coming months if we are having livelihoods for the people who are staying here for the time being.
GORANI: Well, it's interesting as in another refugee crises that I have covered, you see usually, first of all, the flow of refugees to reach those numbers takes a little bit longer. But then, you see a lot of tent cities, you see a lot of people sort of out and about in cities, in this particular case, we have not witnessed that.
I mean, certainly, in the west of Ukraine it appears as though the internally displaced have been absorbed by the local population. And we see that as well in countries like Poland where you are in Moldova. Can you talk to us about the difference between this particular crisis and others that you've had to manage?
LONNBACK: Well, you are absolutely right. Here, we have a population in Moldova that very many have relatives in Ukraine or you have friends. So, up until now, yes, people have been coming in, into their homes, they have been invited to their homes.
And I've heard stories of very poor people in rural areas literally sharing the last chicken or the last bag of potatoes.
GORANI: Yes.
[03:24:58]
LONNBACK: And really showing the enormous solidarity even at the political level. I have a picture in my mind of the president of Moldova up at the northern border greeting an elderly woman and embracing her when she was coming here.
So, there is a very strong sense of solidarity, and indeed, people are coming in into the homes. But moving forward, there will be a need for more solutions. And I must say also, one thing that --
GORANI: Yes.
LONNBACK: -- we're preparing for still is a second wave. And that is going to be very, very hard for this country. Fortunately, through the support of the European Union, the United Nations has been able to start an airlift out of Moldova that gives hope for, especially the vulnerable people, who would need to move over to other countries in Europe.
The vulnerable who cannot through buses or other means take long journeys. So, there is some signs of hope in us being able to operate and decongest in Moldova.
GORANI: Thank you so much, Lars Lonnback to you and your team there on the ground in Moldova. best of luck.
LONNBACK: Thank you.
GORANI: And if you'd like to help people in Ukraine, we have been reporting that it appears as though aid shipments are kind of slowing, according to what officials are telling us. Well, you can always donate at cnn.com/impact. You'll find several days that you can help them.
Coming up, a lot more ahead on CNN. Russian forces have targeted dozens of healthcare facilities in the past month of fighting. We'll discuss the impact this could have across the country, and that it is already having across the country. Stay with us.
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[03:30:00]
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HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine. More details now on our top story this hour. Ukraine's president says his country is ready to accept a neutral nonnuclear status as part of a peace deal with Russia. It comes as both sides are expected to meet this week for another round of negotiations in Turkey.
And on the ground, though, it's a different picture entirely. Ukrainian officials say Russia is launching more missile strikes across Ukraine. An advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that several cities were targeted Sunday into Monday, including three to the west of the capital, you see them highlighted there on the map, as well as Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have gained some ground, launching counteroffensives to take back territory from Russian forces. But the country's military intelligence chief is suggesting 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. All right, well, earlier, I spoke with Asami Terajimi, a political reporter with the "Kyiv Independent." I asked her for how significant those counterattacks from Ukrainian forces have been on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASAMI TERAJIMI, POLITICAL REPORTER, KYIV INDEPENDENT: The situation hasn't changed dramatically. But, at the same time, Ukrainian forces have been, you know, launching counterattacks on several fronts, which is very good in detail. So, it includes, you know, outskirts of Kyiv, where a battle has been really fierce, yes.
But, however, Russia continues to shell different cities, including, you know, Makariv, which is a strategic town which, you know, which prevents, you know, Russia from encircling Kyiv from the west.
GORANI: Yeah.
TERAJIMI: So, this is good, but Russia still continues, you know, shell the cities and civilians still can't return there because, you know, Russia continues to bombard them.
GORANI: What about Mariupol? I mean, this is poor city, absolutely besieged, encircled for weeks. They are continuing their assaults, the Russians?
TERAJIMI: Yes. According to the city council, there are about 170,000 people still left in Mariupol --
GORANI: Uh-hmm.
TERAJIMI: -- and the situation is getting worse every single day because humanitarian convoys haven't been able to get in Mariupol. So, food and drinkable water is running out, medical equipment is running out.
And Russia continues to shell the city. Almost all of the buildings are destroyed or, you know, damaged because, you know, because of continuous Russian shelling. And according to the estimate, between 20,000 to 40,000 people in Mariupol have been forcibly moved to --
GORANI: Yeah.
TERAJIMI: -- other parts of unknown locations.
GORANI: Right, we've heard that, potentially Russian-controlled territory. We're here in Lviv in Western Ukraine, and in the last few weeks, we've had a few strikes. One significant a couple of days ago on a fuel depot not too far from here. I mean, visible from our location even.
Is the mood -- I mean, I haven't noticed that the mood has changed. Yesterday, I was out and about on a Sunday. It feels almost like people are getting used to this tragic kind of war, the air raid sirens, the rest of it.
TERAJIMI: Yes. People -- most of the people have been ignoring the air raid sirens in Lviv so far because even if the sirens go off, they were, you know outside and just, you know, sitting on the bench. But right now, I think that more people have become aware that, you know, like air raid sirens do actually work because there is always a hit right after sirens went out.
GORANI: Yes, yes.
TERAJIMI: But, overall, I think that because people knew that, you know, someday, Lviv will be attacked --
GORANI: Uh-hmm.
TERAJIMI: -- so people are expecting this. So, it's not a big surprise, but we didn't expect it on that day.
GORANI: Asami Terajimi there of the "Kyiv Independent." That will do it for me in Lviv, Ukraine. For more, I'm turning it over to my colleague, Rosemary Church, at the CNN center in Atlanta. Rosemary?
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Thank you so much, Hala, for all your reporting. Appreciate it.
Well, the International Rescue Committee warns Ukrainians are at risk of a -- quote -- "catastrophic health crisis" because of Russian attacks on health care infrastructure. The organization has counted at least 64 attacks on health care facilities, transport, and personnel during the first four weeks of the war.
I spoke earlier about the crisis with Judyth Twigg. She is a political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDYTH TWIGG, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY: Of course, the entire Russia invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy, but it's particularly a tragedy that the attacks on health care facilities, which increasingly look as though they are deliberate Russian attacks on health care, on health workers, on health personnel, those attacks are happening in the places where health care is needed the most, where people are suffering from combat wounds, trauma, injury, in addition to the ongoing medical care that people were already seeking in those facilities.
[03:35:08]
TWIGG: Russia is a signatory to the Geneva Convention in 1954 that outlawed this kind of attack on health facilities. And so, what we are seeing here is a basic violation of human rights.
CHURCH: Yeah, it is just so horrifying to watch, isn't it? And, of course, in the midst of all of this, we've also seen remarkable acts of courage on the part of the Ukrainian people, standing up to the might of Russia's military, and in many instances actually defeating them. And, of course, brave doctors and nurses staying behind to look after those most in need. That courage truly extraordinary.
But what worries you most about this war and, of course, the pounding of civilian targets like hospitals?
TWIGG: Well, of course, we're all accustomed to seeing the incredible acts of courage and heroism and bravery from the Ukrainian people. I'll not that the majority of Ukrainian health care workers are women.
And we are hearing many stories of women doctors and other medical personnel who are getting their own parents and grandparents and children to safety in the western part of Ukraine or in the border countries to the west and then coming back into Ukraine to make sure that they can continue to offer services to their patients or to other people who are in need of medical services.
Obviously, the first thing that we worry about in the immediate sense are the acute health needs of the people who have been affected directly by the violence. So, people in cities that are directly under assault, under siege, places like Kharkiv in the east, like Mariupol in the south.
In a lot of senses, we don't even know what's going on in some of those areas because they have been cut off. People don't have access to food, to water, to sanitation, to basic medications. So, we worry about the treatment of chronic health conditions for those people who don't have access to their medicines, to regular medical care.
The longer those people have to go without, for example, clean drinking water or clean food, we worry about the emergence of communicable diseases like cholera, for example. There was an outbreak of cholera in Mariupol back in 2011. And so, we worry about outbreaks of infectious diseases in those places.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Judyth Twigg talking to me earlier.
Just ahead, with COVID cases surging, Shanghai is going into lockdown as health authorities try to test tens of millions of people. We will have a live report on that. We are back in just a moment.
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[03:40:00]
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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone. Well, here in the United States, COVID-19 vaccinations have hit their slowest pace ever. An average of about 188,000 vaccine doses have been administered each day over the past week. That is the slowest since just a week after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized in 2020.
Overall, about 65% of the U.S. population has completed their initial series of vaccinations. About 29% is fully vaccinated and boosted. Officials have emphasized the importance of vaccination as they keep a close eye on surging cases in Europe and Asia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANAND SWAMINATHAN, RONALD O. PERELMAN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: We look in New York and we're already seeing an uptick. We know that what happens in the northeast tends to herald what is going to happen in the rest of the country. But it's still very hard to predict. And instead of focusing on, is this the variant that is going to cause the next surge, what we really should be focused on is, what should we be doing to stay in the state of preparation for when the next variant causes a surge.
And that again comes back to the federal funding, having adequate federal funding. And one of the things that we should be doing, well, we should be not ramping down testing but ramping testing up, making sure that we have the ability to do surveillance when we're seeing a surge in cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meantime, 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 and the other half will follow on Friday. All the residents, that's more than 25 million in all, must be tested to maintain a green health code status so they can go to grocery stores and public areas.
CNN's Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang joins me now to talk more on this. Great to see you, Steven. So, it is a massive undertaking, isn't it? More than 25 million residents to be tested in just a matter of days. Is this the most efficient way for authorities to do this?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Rosemary, you know, this follows days of confusion and chaos both on the streets and online about what they would do to Shanghai, which is experiencing its biggest surge in COVID cases since the pandemic began.
Remember, for days, city officials denied they would impose a citywide lockdown with police even launching investigations against the so- called rumor mongers, about the city's eminent closure. And when you look at the number, 16,000 cases since March, that's obviously a huge deal for China, and with even suspicion about this number being underreported.
But when you dive a bit deeper, the overwhelming majority of these cases have been asymptomatic. That means most of them will not require hospital care. That's why up until this point, Shanghai had really prided itself on its less disruptive approach to COVID containment. The city had never undertaken citywide mass testing and its quarantine measures were considered less restrictive.
But it seems like, you know, despite hope that the Shanghai model would be replicated for the rest of the country, the opposite is now happening with Shanghai adopting harsh measures we had previously only seeing in other cities. And this new two-step approach, if you will, is basically a citywide lockdown in all but name. And now we are seeing millions of residents being confined to their homes, large portion of the city's public transportation, including the world's biggest metro system, being shut down, not to mention a lot of concerns and even agony about the city's increasingly strained health care system where a lot of people seeking medical attention for non-COVID related causes being turned away. At least one case, a local nurse died because of this.
[03:44:57]
JIANG: And then, of course, the city has the country's oldest population among all major cities. That's another concern because that's a segment of the population that is under-vaccinated. All of this, of course, is happening in Shanghai but has been decided here in Beijing.
But it seems, at least for now, the leadership here is not ready to change course when it comes to zero COVID policy because it has been working for them politically, and not to mention their top priority is that communist party congress would be talking for so much later this year. They simply, at this stage, they don't want to tolerate the scenario of COVID cases across China as Xi Jinping is expected to take his third term in office. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Steven Jiang bringing us up-to-date with that live report from Beijing, many thanks.
Former NBA star is trying to boost Africa's economy through his coffee company and investment in a basketball league called "NBA Africa." CNN's Zain Asher spoke with Dikembe Mutombo about his ambitious business endeavors at the Dubai Expo 2020.
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DIKEMBE MUTOMBO, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, DIKEMBE MUTOMBO FOUNDATION: As you know, coffee is the number two commodity trade in the world with more than $385 billion a year. But there's not many African representative on the table. And that was one of the reasons that pushed me really to get on this business. Knowing that the majority of the coffee comes from the beautiful continent of Africa.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR, ONE WORLD: And talk to us a bit more about how this coffee company, your coffee company, is putting women to work, specifically on the continent.
MUTOMBO: It was really important when I realized that almost like 40% to 50% of workers, especially farm workers in the field, mostly women, and their voices are not represented and nobody talk about them. I felt it was really important as a company to address that issue, to try to figure out how can we help those women because most of those women are a mother, sister, cousin, auntie, and grandma. And the more that we talk about it, the more we get a chance to address the issues that so many women are facing today in the workforces.
ASHER: I want to talk to you about NBA Africa. I'm sure this is obviously dear to your heart. MUTOMBO: Yes.
ASHER: Tell us about your investment in NBA Africa and what you hope the league will achieve on the continent.
MUTOMBO: NBA Africa investment was a great thing. Some of us African players, we played in the NBA, including all the investor from the continent and the NBA in particular, invest more than a billion dollars in the continent to start a new league, to give those young men and young girls hope.
Because we don't think that every young man growing up in Africa, who is picking up the game, would have a chance to go and excel in America or in Europe. Maybe 1%, maybe 001 will make it to the U.S. Maybe to college. But not all of them would make it to the NBA.
So, that's why the NBA, our commissioner, Adam Silver, we have decided the moment they have come to start a new league in the continent, that will give those young men a prospect for them to develop, to stay home, to stay in their own country and their own continent, to be the star on their own people, and to take care of their family and their loved one. And I'm so happy with the direction that we're going.
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CHURCH (on camera): Very inspirational there. Well, some families have found a unique place to lift their spirits as they wait for the war in Ukraine to end. Coming up, we will see how they have turned a mountain sanctuary into their temporary home.
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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone. Well, thousands of people who fled the terror of Russia's war in Ukraine are finding peace and security in an unlikely place. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz talks with some of them in the mountain sanctuary they now call home.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Nestled deep in the Carpathian Mountains, far from the bombs and bullets, lies the idyllic ski resort of Slavsko with plenty of room for those fleeing violence to find solace in the slopes. Many hotels have opened their doors to displaced families. Some at no cost or discounted rates. Guests Stacey and Ramir found refuge here after Russian forces invaded their hometown of Kharkiv.
RAMIR HOLUBOV, FLED KKARKIV: We usually heard like shells blowing up, lots of bombardment.
ABDELAZIS (on camera): How did you feel when you arrived?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): When you look at these mountains and into the news, it seems like not real.
HOLUBOV: And you're here, you're safe. You feel kind of guilty because in the beginning, I left all my family there.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): After a terrifying week, mom and daughter finally squeezed onto a train out of embattled Kyiv. But where to go? Then they remembered a special family trip.
LARVSA KOALVOVA, FLED KYIV: Yes. We love it, this place, because our summertime -- we provide here.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): So, you had good memories here.
KOALVOVA: Good memory. We had good memory in this place.
DIANA KOALVOVA, FLED KYIV: I feel safe here. But I hope that this war will end soon and we'll go home because living at home is much better because it's my home.
ABDELAZIS (on camera): This tiny mountain community of Slavsko has taken in 3,400 displaced people, nearly doubling their population. But they say it's not a burden. They want to share the sanctuary.
(Voice-over): Some have chosen less traditional accommodations. Osa found peace for her two children in this glamping pod.
My daughter wakes up every morning, opens the curtains, wipes the dew from the windows, and looks out at the view, she tells me. Yes, she loves it here.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): It's calming. I feel lighter. And I start to believe everything is going to be okay.
For these families, this feels like the safest place in a country where it seems everywhere is a front line.
Sam Abdelaziz, CNN, Slavsko, Ukraine.
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CHURCH (on camera): And now to some good news about a Ukrainian mother who was forced to flee during the final months of her pregnancy. It was the night before the Russian invasion and her family and friends threw her a surprise baby shower in Kyiv. Hours later, she was forced to pack her bags and flee to Poland, eventually getting to New York City.
She tells CNN she has since given birth to a beautiful baby girl named Kira (ph). She hopes to return to Poland soon and eventually go back to Ukraine. Beautiful.
Thank you so much for your company. I am Rosemary Church. Isa Soares will be back with another hour of "CNN Newsroom" in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
