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Russian Claim of Scaling Back War Met with Skepticism; Russia Claims It's Reducing Assault on Kyiv and Chernihiv; White House Logs Show Lengthy Gap in Trump Calls; Tornado Outbreak Possible in Southern U.S. Today; At Least Five Dead in Shooting Near Tel Aviv; FDA Authorizes Second Booster Shot for Adults 50 and Older; Shanghai Tightens Restrictions Further Amid Lockdown. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 30, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Russia's claims to scale down military operations around Ukraine's capital and Chernihiv is being met with skepticism. Artillery fire can be heard in the distance around Kyiv. The Pentagon warns Russian troops appear to be repositioning rather than withdrawing.

We have to warn you, the next video is graphic. The widespread destruction in Kyiv's western suburb of Irpin, is very clear. The area is largely deserted now -- as you can see there -- after Ukrainian officials claimed they've pushed Russian troops out. Bodies can be seen lying on the streets and inside that car there.

Robert English is the director of Central European studies at the University of Southern California. He joins me live from Los Angeles. Robert, thank you very much for staying up late to speak with us. Western officials have been hearing in the last 24 hours sounding skeptical and weary of Russia's pledge to scale back. How do you see their move?

ROBERT ENGLISH, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN STUDIES AT USC: Well, I see this as a normal confusing situation as we approach the end game, the final stage of this war. And I have no doubt that we are entering the end game because the middle game, the attempt to take ground to make major advances has deteriorated into a stalemate. Russia cannot win. Cannot achieve its objectives and it's looking now for a way to scale back to more moderate positions while still maximizing its leverage at the bargaining table.

They are at the negotiating table. But Russia will keep killing people. The Ukrainians will fight back viciously. And so, yes, the Russians that claim and intention to pull back, to retreat, to give a space. But they'll keep fighting and so will the Ukrainians. But neither one can win. There will have to be compromise in the coming weeks to calm the bloodshed on both sides.

SOARES: And what we have heard, Robert, I mean, Russia made it clear this is not a cease-fire. And they probably won't admit that this is a defeat. But the reality is -- and you hinted there -- that their forces have been suffering heavy losses and very low morale. But is this not then just focusing on the areas to the east and southern parts of the country or do you still think they have their eyes on Kyiv despite the fact that they say they don't?

ENGLISH: I think Putin later than the rest of us because of the bubble he's been in, the pride and the delusions he's been under has been slow to accept that his major offensive, his broad strategic goals have failed. He will not conquer Ukraine. He will not take the capital. But he now has understood that because of the reality of a collapsing army that cannot even replace equipment, is scraping the barrel for spare parts. They're scraping the barrel for spare people. They cannot win. They have to retreat and scale back their goals.

And as many of us watching on the military side have expected, they will retreat to something like a strip of territory connecting Crimea with the Donbas eventually. But in the meantime, they will inflict a ton of damage, missile strikes will continue pressuring the Ukrainians to make more concessions. This is how bloody and nasty wars end.

SOARES: And this is exactly -- your analysis just there was spot on. That's exactly what we've been hearing from the U.K. ministry of defense. In the sense of their strategy and their tactics on the ground going forward. You know, when you saw -- probably you saw yesterday, Robert, Ukraine presenting Russian negotiators in Istanbul during these peace talks with a framework for peace under which they'll remain neutral with a security guarantee by third party countries. Do you think this would be something Putin would accept at this snag.

ENGLISH: It's an important concession to Russia. And it's probably a sensible compromise. Neutrality, formal neutrality so that Putin can claim a win and save face. But at the same time Ukraine says it's got to come with security guarantees from the West. So, it's like halfway being in NATO anyway.

[04:05:00]

That allows Putin to claim victory and give up on the big goal of conquest which he'll claim he never wanted anyway.

And I think the sticking point, the hardest thing to negotiate now, will be sanctions. The Russians will want sanctions relieve. The United States says no to that. The British say no to that. But some of the central allies on the European continent are actually desperate to get some kind of ordinary trade and commerce back because they're hurting a lot from the sanctions too. So, I think it's going to be a negotiating game between Russia and Ukraine and between America and some NATO allies to keep the unified position on this question of how many sanctions if any can be relieved and it what stage.

SOARES: I mean, just yesterday we heard President Zelenskyy -- who was addressing the Danish Parliament -- calling for more pressure, more sanctions, ports to be closed and more pressure on Russia. But let me ask you this, Robert, in the last 30 minutes or so we heard from the Ukrainian side that that they're going to be three humanitarian corridors put in place today in Ukraine. One of those is in Mariupol. How much can we trust that these will go ahead. Because Mariupol is being besieged with more than 100,000 people -- according to President Zelenskyy -- trapped inside the country. Can we take Russia at their word here?

ENGLISH: I'm afraid not. They've broken their word so many times. No, we can't accept anything they say verbally. It has to be demonstrated in actions. That's how they've behaved before so I'm afraid, no, not on this, not on humanitarian corridors, not on a cessation of bombardment of Kyiv, on missile strikes towards Lviv. None of these do we take Russia's word. And Ukrainians continue to shoot back and fight as -- take as many Russian losses as they can inflict until we finally see the Russians act on those words. They haven't yet.

SOARES: Yes, and like President Zelenskyy said overnight, you know, there was signs of optimism but we are not -- the Ukrainian people and not naive. We shall see. Robert English, great to have your perspective. Appreciate it. Thank you, Robert.

ENGLISH: You're welcome.

SOARES: Now British authorities have seized this superyacht they say belongs to an unnamed Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin. The vessel is currently docked here in London. It's worth an estimated $50 million. Is the first to be seized in British waters since Russian sanctions were enacted. U.K. officials described the yacht as, quote, deliberately well hidden. It sails under the Maltese flag and is registered to a company based in the Caribbean.

Next, the January 6th investigation hits a stumbling block. Coming up, details on the sizable gap in the White House phone records just ahead.

Plus, a deadly shooting in Tel Aviv has left several people including a police officer dead. We'll take you live to Israel for the very latest. Do stay right here with CNN.

[04:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Lawmakers investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol are now facing a substantial gap in White House records on what Donald Trump was doing that day. After attending a rally and urging his followers to march the Capitol, quote, fight like hell, to stop the certification of the election results. Trump returned to the White House and for several hours during the riot White House records show no calls to or from Trump. But it's known he reached out to a number of Republican lawmakers to press them to reject the certification. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I was the first person to contact him when the riots were going on. He didn't see it.

REP. JIM JORDON (R-OH): I know I talked to him after we left off the floor. REP. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): He said a few things, I said: Mr.

President they taken the vice president out. They want me to get off the phone, I got to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, according to reports, U.S. House investigators are looking into whether Trump communicated through back channels, aide's phones or indeed burner phones.

Now more severe weather including tornadoes could be on the way for parts of the Southern U.S. A tornado watch is already in effect for areas in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. But the biggest threat is expected later today as the storm system moves east. Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has a closer look at the forecast. Good morning, Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Isa. Yes, another day, another severe weather threat here and a pretty expensive one at that impacting portions of the Mississippi Valley, on into the Tennessee Valley, even as far north as the Ohio Valley where the severe threat extends here for quite a bit of activity in this afternoon.

But even in to the early morning hours, tornado watches that are in place and in effect here to at least 7 a.m. local time. Includes Tulsa, include portions, of course, Arkansas, back south into Dallas. Severe weather here could certainly spawn a few tornadoes across the landscape. And as that energy shifts east, we do expect the severe threat to really increase into this afternoon. And you'll notice it's a multi-day setup. So, the energy does eventually park off the eastern seaboard as well by Thursday afternoon.

But the threat level, that's a level 4 on a scale of 1 to 5 -- indicated in red. The largest concern here is going to be for straight line winds maybe 70, 75 miles per hour into this afternoon. But also a few strong tornadoes, EF-2 or greater potential. And of course, this is in line with the same exact spot that we saw severe weather and deadly tornadoes about a week ago.

Notice about a 50 percent chance across this landscape for the significant wind gusts. Timing on this, we think late morning into early afternoon hours. Nashville, into Jackson, as far south as New Orleans, 40-, maybe even close to 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts possible in some of these cities. And the energy eventually shifts off into Alabama and Georgia before the severe threat to Windows just a little bit.

But also, excessive rainfall potential in place, that includes the city of Memphis for some flooding potential into this afternoon. Notice by Thursday afternoon the threat level diminishes quite a bit and some of the larger cities in line here for at least some strong wind gusts. And on the back side of it, much, much colder air in store here. Temperatures in Atlanta freefalling back down into the 60s as we go in towards later this week -- Isa.

SOARES: Thanks very much, Pedram.

Now at least five people including a police officer was shot and killed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. That's a third attack in Israel in the past eight days. Authorities say at least one shooter using an assault rifle against civilians in several locations before police killed the suspect. Elliott Gotkine joins me now live from the scene of the shooting near Tel Aviv. And Elliott, what more do we know about this deadly attack? Has there been a claim of admission here?

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Yes, Isa, there has been a claim of admission by Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is kind of the militant wing of the Fatah Party. At the same time, we have been hearing more and more details around the specifics of last night's attack. The Israeli police told us the gunman came from where there is a main road at the top here, on a residential street here.

[04:15:00]

He came down, tried to shoot at what appears to be a teenager on an electric bicycle. Missed the teenager, then came here to this corner shop where you can see there's an Israeli flag, there's candles on the floor, and he shot dead two men, who have since been identified as a 23 and 32-year-old Ukrainian men who were just sitting there, just sitting outside, you know, with one another on a Tuesday evening. Shot dead at point blank range. He then shot a man who was driving home in his car, shot him while he was driving.

And then around the corner here, in another residential street, shot dead a 30-year-old father who was cradling his toddler, perhaps with a push chair there at the time as well. He then came across two Israeli police officers. He shot the driver of the motorcycle they were on in the chest. His partner then got off with his pistol and shot the gunman dead. The driver who was shot in the chest was taken to the hospital but died later of his wounds. And I should say that the police officer who was killed was Israeli-Arab. There was a ceremony that was due to be taking place this morning in Nazareth in the north of Israel at a church -- at church of the church of Annunciation in Nazareth, and he's due to be buried this afternoon. His name was Amir Khoury. And he's being hailed as a hero by the Israeli police -- Isa.

SOARES: Yes, very worrying indeed as they head into the holidays of Easter, Ramadan as well as Passover. Elliot Gotkine there, appreciate it. Thank you very much, Elliott.

Now still to come right here on the show, as a omicron sub variant dominates the U.S., another round of COVID boosters may be on the way for some Americans. We'll have the details after a short break.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: A select group of people can now get an additional COVID booster in the United States. The FDA has expanded Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer as well as Moderna vaccines allowing adults age 50 and older to get a second booster which is four shots overall. Those eligible are able to get that shot four months after their first booster. The move comes as the Omicron variant BA. 2 has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. -- I as you can see there -- according to the CDC. U.S. cases have stayed relatively stable so far and the key indicator of hospitalizations continue to slow down. And that's very good news, indeed.

Well, Shanghai, the engine of China's $18 trillion economy is tightening COVID restrictions with a city of 25 million people now in day three of COVID lockdown. And this is happening as the country's fighting the worst COVID surge since the original outbreak -- if you remember -- in Wuhan two years ago. Shanghai reported nearly 6,000 new cases on Tuesday it counts as 70 percent of China's new infections.

Let's get more on this. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me from Hong Kong with more. And, Kristie, what does this lockdown look like for people in Shanghai? Talk us through this.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, this has been described as a two-stage lockdown so that the 25 million residents of Shanghai would be tested for COVID-19. And so far, we have learned 9 million residents have been tested since Monday. On Monday the first half of the city went into lockdown for four days. On Friday the other half will go under lockdown.

And during this testing period we know that 6 million residents at least, they will be staying at home, not allowed to leave until they get tested. Also, during this time, public transport will be suspended. Work will be suspended at some offices and factories as well.

What's happening in Shanghai is huge in scope. It's also a huge test of China's zero COVID strategy. Yes, it's a strategy that China has said has helped to curbed outbreaks and to saved lives but it has come at a steep cost especially to the nation's economy. I want to bring up this statement for you from an economist Macquarie Bank, Larry Hu.

He says this, quote, China should be able to contain the virus in the next few weeks, as the lockdown is effective. He goes on to say, but COVID does pose substantial growth risk in the rest of this year, as lockdown is very costly. Unquote. Isa, back to you.

SOARES: And, Kristie, I mean, in Hong Kong where you are, thousands of COVID positive children have been separated from their parents. Is the government is now saying they will prevent such separation. How so?

STOUT: So, this is a story that we've been monitoring closely here at CNN because of the strict isolation quarantine rules here in zero COVID Hong Kong. Families have been separated by this policy. We know that COVID positive children, even infants, have been separated from COVID negative parents because of this policy.

It prompted one Hong Kong charity, called Mind Hong Kong to issue a statement earlier this week. They estimate that some 2,000 children under the age of 10 have been separated from their parents because of this policy. In the last two weeks alone, they accuse the Hong Kong government of child abuse. We do have a statement from the Hong Kong government, from the hospital authority.

They say this, quote, even for parents or careers who are tested negative for COVID, we will seek the agreement of the Center of Health Protection, so that the public hospitals can also accommodate their requests for accompany the pediatric patient. Subject to availability of isolation capacities, unquote.

Look, it's a convoluted statement. It appears that this policy has been reversed. We're still trying to see clarity. But, Isa, the damage has been done. As we've been reporting over the last few weeks, thousands of people have left Hong Kong, including families that cite the threat of family separation as a reason why.

And of course, the families who have been victimized by this policy, and I've spoken to some parents and they've shared some really heartbreaking stories with me of what they've been going through. Including a father who told me how he and his wife were separated for about seven days from their 1 1/2-year-old toddler son who was being treated for COVID-19 in the hospital. Since coming out of the hospital the toddler is showing signs of PTSD. He is irritable. He can't sleep at night. He has nightmares. He is very clingy to the mother, won't let her go. You hear these stories and you hear about the pain that this policy has caused to so many people here in Hong Kong -- Isa.

[04:25:00]

SOARES: Not a healthy policy, like you pointed out, Kristie, the impact that has on children's mental health. Keep us posted. Thanks very much, Kristie. Kristie Lu Stout for us there in Hong Kong.

STOUT: Thank you.

SOARES: Well, Will Smith may soon find out if he'll face consequences for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. Sources say the film academy's board of governors will meet later today to discuss whether any action will be taken against Smith. Board member Whoopie Goldberg, host of ABC's "The View," says he's not getting off scot-free. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, HOST, "THE VIEW": Let me say this. There are consequences. There are big consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There has to be.

GOLDBERG: Well, Yes. Nobody -- nobody is OK with what happened, nobody. Nobody, nobody. What's happening are people are now starting to calm down and say, wait a minute, what could have triggered this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Now we've also been hearing from Jada Pinkett Smith for the first since Chris Rock joked about her at the Oscars. She didn't directly address the joke or the slap. She simply wrote Instagram, quote, this is a season for healing and I'm here for it. And before we go, a moment of unity in space. Handshakes and hugs

exchanged between Russians and Americans aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. One of the Russian cosmonauts had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTON SHKAPLEROV, RUSSIAN COSMONAUT: People have problem on earth. On orbit we are alike or we are not like. We are one crew and I think ISS is like symbol of the friendship. We are like my space brothers and space sisters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The Russian-American crew will arrive on earth in the coming hours and it's safe to say that the world looks very different from when they took off.

That does it for me, thanks very much for your company. I'm Isa Soares in London. Our breaking news coverage from Ukraine continues next on "EARLY START." And there are the details for you to get in touch. I shall see you tomorrow. Have a wonderful day. His back to bye-bye again Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:00]