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CNN Team Reports Heavy Fighting In Outskirts Of Kyiv; Russia Keeps Up Attacks Despite Pledge To Scale Back; At Least 15 Killed In Russian Strike In Mykolaiv; Ukrainians Reluctant To Leave Home Arriving In Hungary; Ukrainian Family Reunites At New Home In U.S.; Weaning Off Russian Oil May Help Renewable Energy; Israel on High Alert after Deadly Attacks; Disciplinary Proceedings Underway Against Will Smith. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired March 31, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[23:59:49]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world and in the United States this hour. I'm Hala Gorani reporting live from Lviv, Ukraine.
[00:00:02]
GORANI: Any hope that Russia would keep its promise to scale back its attacks on Ukraine has been dashed by another day of missile launches, airstrikes and shelling. We want to start with a hard hit city of Irpin just West of the capital Kyiv, take a look.
The mayor of Irpin reports that half of the city has been destroyed. Water, electricity still out, uninhabitable basically. Much of the video from the region is graphic and heartbreaking and some of it we cannot show you because it is too graphic.
Emergency workers ventured out on Wednesday to collect some of the dead bodies. The mayor says Irpin is now under full Ukrainian control. But Russian soldiers are still lurking nearby. He says many civilians remained in the city despite the fighting. Look at all those bodybags.
Farther North, Ukrainian forces claim they've retaken a key town near Chernihiv. You can see the bombed out Russian tank and Ukrainian soldiers on the streets. Recapturing the town is crucial to Ukraine's push to break Russia's encirclement of Chernihiv to the North.
A CNN team on the ground reports heavy fighting on the outskirts of Kyiv, including constant shelling, rocket launches, as well as small arms fire.
Ukraine's president says Russia's pledge to reduce its attacks on the region clearly wasn't true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Yes, we have negotiations processed, but they're only words without anything concrete. There are other words about alleged pullback of Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv and reduction of activities of the occupiers in these territories. This is not a retreat. This is the result of the work of our defenders who pushed them back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: CNN's Fred Pleitgen and his team traveled outside the capital Kyiv to get a closer look at the fighting and the destruction and we want to let you know as always, this report contains some graphic video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Through heavily fortified checkpoints, we reached the edge of Kyiv at the suburb Irpin.
Suddenly, on top of the artillery barrages, we hear gunfire. Much closer and we have to take cover.
This is what it sounds like after Russia said it has scaled down its military operations around Kyiv. Even in the calmer moments, the big guns are never silent.
This is the final checkpoint before you would reach the district of Irpin. But it's impossible for us to go there right now simply because it's much too dangerous. It's also impossible for the people who live there to come back to their homes because there's still so much shelling going on and so much unexploded ordnance still on the ground.
Irpin was heavily contested between Russian and Ukrainian forces as Vladimir Putin's troops attempted to push through to Kyiv.
Now, the Ukrainians say they've pushed the Russians back taking control and released this graphic video of the aftermath, buildings and cars destroyed, dead bodies still lying in the streets.
Ukraine's security emergency service has now also released this video, showing rescuers taking out at least some of the dead while under fire from Russian artillery.
Some of the remaining residents were also brought to safety including many children, Irpin's mayor tells me.
OLEKSANDR MARKUSHIN, MAYOR OF IRPIN, UKRAINE (through translator): Now, Irpin is 100 percent Ukrainian. We are taking out the wounded and dead bodies. Today and yesterday, we evacuated approximately 500 people. Today, I myself evacuated about 50 children and 100 adults.
PLEITGEN: The evacuees are brought to the space outside of Irpin. It's not only people, aid groups are now also evacuating the animals left behind when their owners had to flee, including these puppies. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have volunteers who are going under the fire and
picking animals on the streets.
PLEITGEN: Going under fire, you're going into Irpin and picking animals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PLEITGEN: The Ukrainian army says it's in the process of pushing Russian troops further out of this area, hoping to silence Putin's guns and restore calm to this once quaint suburb.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: So many individual acts of heroism there.
Joining me now from New Haven, Connecticut. Matthew Schmidt is a professor of -- a professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven. Thanks for being with us.
What do you think the Russians are doing here? At the negotiating table, they claim they will de-escalate, that they will draw down their troops.
And then, minutes later, they start renewed shelling, bombing and targeting of civilian infrastructure in many cases around the capital. What are they doing?
[00:05:13]
MATTHEW SCHMIDT, NATIONAL SECURITY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: I think we need to understand that war is about using military force and the threat of military force to change political outcomes. And I think that's what you see happening here with Vladimir Putin and Russian forces, is they continue to use terror.
They continue to increase the brutality of the war against the Ukrainian population, the civilian population in order to shift, you know, what they hope the negotiating standard would be of Zelenskyy as we go forward, that is to say, to take more of what they want, to get Crimea in negotiations, to get the whole of the Donbass instead of just the currently occupied territories, you know, the NATO question and so forth, but they are using brutality, in order to drive the political situation.
GORANI: But what about these reports of in some cases, Russian troops refusing to obey orders? In one case, we understand according to intelligence reports, perhaps even accidentally shooting down one of their own aircraft.
There's a video circulating online of Russian troops hitchhiking away from their positions, because they just do not want to fight this fight.
What impact does that have overall on the Russian war effort?
SCHMIDT: It's hard to say, because this is fundamentally an information war where -- you know, where the kinetic war is driving the information war, really.
So, you have these incidences, it's very clear that you have a morale problem within the Russian military, perhaps all the way up into the -- you know, the Ministry of Defense, you know, in Russia.
But at the same time, it really -- what really matters is what people think is going on, what they perceive is happening on the battlefield.
So, it only takes, you know, enough troops to commit brutalities to frighten enough of Ukrainian population to change Zelenskyy's position at the negotiating table.
And even though there are Russian troops that, you know, may or may not be shooting on their own aircraft, that doesn't mean that the Texan mercenaries that come in or the Syrian mercenaries that come in, either know about that or care about that, they would still be capable of engaging in, you know, war crimes in order to again up the brutality and push the negotiating position forward.
GORANI: And where do you think that stands this negotiation at this very early stage about one month into this Russian invasion? How does it -- how is it shaping up on the diplomatic front here,in your opinion?
SCHMIDT: I think it's extremely fluid, as we've seen here with words, saying one thing, and then actions, you know, being another. The thing people need to understand is that Ukraine is a parliamentary republic. And Zelenskyy has said over and over again that any question about negotiations, about the future of the territorial integrity of the country, about NATO ascension, these sorts of things has to go to a national referendum.
And I think people just wave their hands. And they think that well, if Vladimir Putin can say x is going to happen, and then x happens for Russia. Zelenskyy, can't do that and he won't do that, because he's fighting for democratic principles here.
But when you look at the Ukrainian population, right, just two weeks ago, there was some polling done and almost 70 percent of the population essentially said, we'll fight on, we don't want to give up the whole of the Donbass, right. They even said we don't want to give up Crimea, and we don't want to give up NATO.
So, it is very unclear that Zelenskyy could even pass through the negotiating positions that we've been talking about for the last week.
GORANI: Right, well, obviously, when a -- when a democracy is engaged in a battle with an autocracy with no accountability to citizens, it's an uneven fight in that sense, as you describe that so well.
What about the timeline? Because when the Russians made those statements that they would deescalate around Kyiv, there was a wave of optimism around the world. Oil prices went down and the markets went up, and people sort of took Russia at its word.
But is it possible that this is just a strategy, a lie to prolong the situation on the ground so that they can reposition troops and that really, we should expect a very long term battle here?
SCHMIDT: Unfortunately, Hala, that's where I think we're at. Often the outside world I think dismisses Zelenskyy, dismisses his cabinet as knowing your enemy better than we do, but I think that they do and they understand what's going on here between the military fight and the political fight.
And so, what you see here is that there's no downside to Putin to negotiate in bad faith and then to try to increase the brutality and the pressure on Zelenskyy. He's pushing Zelenskyy into a position where Zelenskyy has to look out and say essentially, these are the Ukrainians that are alive still today. Right? And I'm responsible for them.
And how much do I want to save those lives that are alive today versus future Ukrainians in 20 or 40 years that wants to live in a country with real independence with real security, right? With a real European style, economy and European values. He's got to weigh that. That's not an easy decision.
[00:10:21]
SCHMIDT: And every time Putin murders another Ukrainian civilian, he increases the chance that Zelenskyy will turn around and say enough, I have to save people now. I can't keep this fight going. But that's what the referendum is for too.
GORANI: Yes, Professor Matthew Schmidt in New Haven, Connecticut, thank you so much for joining us, really appreciate it.
Rescue and recovery operations are said to be ongoing and Mykolaiv in Southern Ukraine after a Russian strike on a regional administration building on Tuesday. The death toll has now climbed to 15.
CNN's Ben Wedeman gives us a firsthand look at the devastation.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Somewhere in this jumble of concrete bricks and twisted metal are more bodies trapped in the ruins of the office of Mykolaiv's regional governor.
Tuesday morning are Russian missiles struck the building, killing more than a dozen people wounding many more.
OLEKSANDR SYENKEVYCH, MAYOR OF MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE: They bombard our city and only civilians are dying here.
WEDEMAN: Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych doesn't normally come to city hall like this. But he saw war coming long ago and prepared himself. SYENKEVYCH: I think from 2014. I thought that the war will be like this. So, everything you see on me, this bulletproof vest, boots, anything. I bought it a couple years ago, so I started to learn how to shoot. I was in a special school for that.
WEDEMAN: On the outskirts of his city. Recently down Russian attack helicopters suggests the Ukrainian military also saw this war coming. They've managed to stop Russian forces in their tracks, regaining territory lost at the start of the war.
5-year-old Misha (PH) is recovering from shrapnel wounds to his head in the basement turned bomb shelter at Mykolaiv's Regional Children's Hospital.
His grandfather Vladimir shows me phone video of the bullet riddled car, Misha's father was driving with his family to escape the Russian advance.
Russian soldiers, Vladimir calls them bastards, opened fire on the car killing Misha's grandmother and mother.
As we speak, the air raid siren goes on, taking shelter is an oft practice drill. Stay calm and carry on.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Mykolaiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, they didn't want to leave their country and for many, the only homes they've ever known. Refugees who only recently escaped the violence tell CNN what finally drove them out of Ukraine.
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GORANI: The United Nations says the number of people fleeing the Russian bombardments in Ukraine is now more than four million. The vast majority of these refugees have been heading to neighboring countries.
According to UNICEF, half of those who've left Ukraine are children with another 2-1/2 million minors internally displaced.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office says 145 children have been killed since the start of this invasion. The Ukrainians able to escape the shelling are facing an uncertain future and dealing with tremendous anguish.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees try to explain what they are going through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FILIPPO GRANDI, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: I can't put it in context. There's no more context here to compare to this to anything else. It's not just numbers. It's the fear. It's the loss. It's the separation. It's the uncertainty about the future. And this is difficult to compare, difficult to measure, difficult to address.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Filippo Grandi there. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been crossing into Hungary.
CNN's Matt Rivers spoke to some of the new arrivals about what finally drove them out of their country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Zahony train station just across the border from Ukraine. It's here where refugees fleeing the war touch Hungarian soil for the first time.
People have been arriving here since the first days of the war, but these are the people that chose to stay longer up until they couldn't.
People like Elena who left with her husband and three daughters.
How old is she?
ELENA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: Five.
RIVERS: And she asked if the tank would shoot at us?
ELENA: Yes, because she saw tank every day. Because they --
RIVERS: She saw Russian tanks?
ELENA: Russian tanks, a lot of Russian tanks.
RIVERS: Elena says Russian soldiers had occupied her village and set up artillery positions and that Ukrainian forces started to target them.
Just a few days ago, she says there was an explosion about 100 metres from her house. Right after it hit, she knew it was time to go.
She says I thought to myself, I'm 34, I have three children. It can't end like this. So, we walked right into the forest for two hours.
A Ukrainian soldier then stopped us and told us that there were snipers everywhere. They put us underneath shields and walked us to safety because there were firefights everywhere.
They never wanted to leave she said but eventually she had no choice. It is a common sentiment from those here who waited for weeks after the invasion to make a brutal decision to flee the only home they've ever known. Olesya Lahuta was one of them.
[00:20:12]
RIVERS: We stayed a really long time after the war started, she says, about a month, but every day the sound of the bombing got closer and closer, and our children are small. Our building didn't have a basement and there was no cover available.
So, she joined the hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians that have arrived here in Hungary. And as her kids sit and play in her lap, she gets emotional about the threat to their lives, and others.
I can't understand why, she says choking up. There are lots of small children who died and I can't understand the purpose of this war. It's not only my children that are in danger.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office says at least 145 children have died in the war, a number that is almost certainly an undercount. Olesya fled because she didn't want her kids added to the list.
And now, she gets back on the train headed toward Budapest with an uncertain future amidst a horrible war.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Zahony, Hungary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: For another Ukrainian family fleeing the fighting, met a harrowing overnight drive, a separation at the Polish border. And finally, finally, a reunion in the United States. And the elderly man who has offered them a home is no longer a stranger. Randi Kaye has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IRYNA TIMOSHENKO, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: I realized that something happened because when at 5:30 maybe a.m., the neighbors call me and asked Iryna, did you hear something?
RANDI KAYE, CNN JOURNALIST (voice over): Iryna Timoshenko was on a business trip last month in Lviv, Ukraine near the Polish border when Russia started bombing her country. Her husband and their three children were hundreds of miles away at the family's home outside Kyiv.
TIMOSHENKO: I just asked my husband to bring the kids to me.
KAYE: Iryna and her husband Oleksandr devised a plan, he would drive them through the night about seven hours one way to meet her in Lviv.
So, as your husband drove toward Lviv, you were able to track him on your phone?
TIMOSHENKO: In WhatsApp, it's the one option share your location. And I can online check where he is. Because you know, it was like a hardest hours when you realize that all your family, your husband and your kids driving, and it can bomb in and it can be anything.
KAYE: When the family reunited, Iryna thought her husband wasn't able to cross the border since men of a certain age were being told to stay and help defend Ukraine. So, Iryna and her kids ages three, seven and nine boarded a train to
Poland.
Meanwhile, around the same time, half a world away, this man Philip Bradford, was watching the Russian siege on T.V. at his Florida home. Phillip's mother was Croatian and his wife's stepmother was from Ukraine. So, he felt the urge to help.
PHILIP BRADFORD, OPENED HOME TO TIMOSHENKO FAMILY: I heard my wife and my mother and my step mother-in-law, my mother-in-law, telling me get off of my dupa which is rear end and go do something.
KAYE: Just a few minutes away from Philip's home in Cooper City is St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
BRADFORD: I went to the church. And I gave them a couple of $100 thinking I've done my good deed like a boy scout might. And I said if I can help more, let me know.
KAYE: It turns out, there was more, a lot more. Iryna had made her way to Miami with her kids. She visited that same Ukrainian church last year. So, when she went back and shared her struggle, a church volunteer called on Philip to help.
KAYE: I was told about this mother with three children from Ukraine.
TIMOSHENKO: Yes, I want to help. I have the big house. I want to give you the place to stay for your kids, you will have the separate room for all of them.
KAYE: Philip's wife has been in a nursing home for the last four years. So, he's been living alone. Not anymore. Iryna and her kids moved right in.
BRADFORD: I'm almost 80, so it's like having grandkids running around again.
KAYE: How do you feel about a stranger opening up his home to your family?
TIMOSHENKO: You know, I was shocked. And now we are like one family all together.
KAYE: Philip even insisted Iryna take the kids to Disney World, his treat.
You sent them to Disney.
BRADFORD: Oh, she told you about that?
KAYE: We know all your secrets.
BRADFORD: That's what grandfather's do I guess.
KAYE: Meanwhile, soon after Iryna left Ukraine, she found out men who had three or more children were allowed to leave the country. So, a few days ago, this happened.
[00:25:06]
KAYE: Upon his arrival, as a gesture of thanks, Iryna's husband who will also live with Phillip brought him this bracelet in the same colors as the Ukrainian flag.
What does that bracelet mean to you?
BRADFORD: It kind of makes me one of them in a sense. Yes.
KAYE: Bonded.
BRADFORD: Yes. Right.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Cooper City, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: So heartwarming.
And if you would like to help people in Ukraine who may be in need of all these basic necessities, you can head over to CNN.com/Impact and there you'll find a curated list of organizations helping civilians in this country.
Russian infantry may have hit the wall but missiles and artillery still caused damage near Kyiv. We'll take you to areas that took a heavy hit and show you evidence that civilians may have been intentionally targeted.
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GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani in Lviv, Ukraine.
[00:30:32]
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is scheduled to address the Australian Parliament about two hours from now. We'll bring that to you live when it happens.
Mr. Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday for nearly an hour, with the U.S. promising another $500 million in direct budgetary aid.
Ukraine says talks with Russia will resume on Friday and that they will take place online. But President Zelenskyy is downplaying any hint of a break through, saying the meetings so far have been, quote, "only words."
The U.S. military says more weapons and supplies are arriving in Ukraine daily. A Pentagon spokesperson said shipments of switchblade attack drones, as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems will be coming soon.
The U.S. also believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled and misinformed by his generals and advisers about the true state of the Russian war effort and the true impact of sanctions. Here's what the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: On the reports of Putin not being well-advised, I'm going to be careful not to getting into -- into intelligence, but we would concur with the conclusion that -- that Mr. Putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defense at every turn over the last month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, that assessment mirrors the view in the United Kingdom. The head of British intelligence claims morale is low among Russian forces, with some of them even sabotaging their own equipment and allegedly refusing to follow orders.
Now, whatever Mr. Putin knows about Russia's military performance in Ukraine, the U.N. human rights chief now says it may amount to war crimes. The high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, says that Russia has struck civilian targets and may have used cluster bombs, which are widely banned. Some cities just outside Kyiv saw just how brutal a Russian attack can be.
Christiane Amanpour went there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Missiles have struck the town of Brovary, a suburb of Eastern Kyiv twice in the last week alone. This tangled, jagged mass of a metal and cladding is what's left of a massive warehouse that stored food, paper, and the beer and alcohol that's no longer allowed to be consumed under martial law.
(on camera): This happened at almost exactly the same time that the Russians were announcing their de-escalation around Kyiv. This missile struck right here. Imagine the good fortune of the truck driver who was loading up to take crates and packages and boxes of food and supplies to the supermarkets in this town and also to Kyiv. He managed to survive.
(voice-over): We are told three workers were killed, but Brovary has never fallen to Russian forces.
Directly west of here, Russian and Ukrainian troops have been fiercely fighting over the town of Irpin. And now it does appear that the Russians are retreating from here. A clear indication that this war around Kyiv has simply not gone the way Russia planned.
Whatever the reason Moscow says it's retrenching, their intercepted radio conversations, verified by "The New York Times," show their soldiers in distress from the very start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GRAPHIC: I urgently need refueling, water, food supplies. This is Sirena. Over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: This was west of the capital in Makariv, in the very first days of the war, already signaling the focus on civilians once their own so-called properties were out of harm's way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: There was a decision made to remove the first "property" from the residential area and to cover the residential area with artillery. Over.
AMANPOUR: This security video shows a Russian armored vehicle just blowing up a car, instantly killing the elderly couple inside.
Ukraine has lost its fighters, too. Here in the Brovary cemetery, Boris the caretaker shows us freshly dug graves.
(on camera): This guy, this soldier died on the very first day of the war.
It's raining. It's drizzling here today. It's almost as if the city is crying as it mourns its war dead. Because all of these graves are for the fighters of this place who've fallen in combat since this war began.
[00:35:15]
This grave has been dug, but the family can't yet bury their son, a soldier who was fighting in a village 15 kilometers away that's held by the Russians. They haven't yet been able to get his body released.
And even Boris's heart breaks when he tells me about a father who's just lost his son, his only child, And who asked, "what do I have to live for now?"
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Brovary, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, I'll have more from Lviv, Ukraine, at the top of the hour, but first, let's go over to Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta.
Kim, over to you.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Hala.
As strong storms hammer the southern U.S., at least seven people are injured after a suspected tornado ripped through a town in Arkansas.
Videos from Springdale show buildings torn apart in the area, littered with debris. The city's mayor says many residents were forced to leave their homes. Many businesses were also hit, including this furniture store, its
roof peeled off by the storm.
Millions of people are at risk as the system moves eastward. And strong storms are also expected along the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday.
Well, if Russian gas slows to a trickle, many are wondering how Europe will cope. Coming up, we'll look at Germany's warnings and which other countries may step in to help. Stay with us.
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[00:40:44]
BRUNHUBER: The warning from German officials: save your gas. This prompted by a payment dispute with Russia.
Moscow wants all energy payments in rubles, not dollars or euros, but in a phone call Wednesday, German -- Germany says that Chancellor Olaf Scholz was told by the Russian president that the ruble demand doesn't apply to European partners, meaning euros would still be accepted, but they'd have to go through a Russian bank that's not under sanctions and converted into rubles.
Germany says that Chancellor Scholz hasn't agreed to that but is seeking more clarity on the plan. In the meantime, Germany's economy minister is urging conservation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT HABECK, GERMAN ECONOMY MINISTER (through translator): We are in a situation in which I have to clearly state that every saved kilowatt hour of energy helps. And this is why I want to also use this declaration of the early warning with an appeal to industrialists and private consumers to help us. To help Germany, to help Ukraine by saving gas and energy overall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Have a look here. This map shows just how many pipelines are sending Russian gas into Europe, Germany alone has four of them. Though it has halted the Nord Stream 2 project due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
So, with the future of Russian oil increasingly under pressure in Europe, many countries on the continent are looking to the U.S. for a post-Russia energy plan. Clare Sebastian looks at what might come next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The European recovery program, the Marshall plan.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventy-four years after the United States launched a package of economic aid to help rebuild postwar Europe, the war in Ukraine has European economies again looking to the U.S. as they scramble to redesign their energy future to end decades of reliance on Russia.
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. SECRETARY OF ENERGY At this point in our history, what is going to be our version of the Marshall plan for clean and secure energy.
SEBASTIAN: Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, will be critical. Just six years after the first export cargo set off on the mainland United States, the U.S. became the world's top exporter of LNG in January, with significant growth potential.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to work to ensure an additional 1:15, one five, 15, 15 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, LNG, for Europe this year.
SEBASTIAN: Fifteen billion cubic meters, though, is less than 10 percent of the natural gas that the E.U. imported from Russia last year. Helpful in the short term, analysts say, but not much of a defense if Russia decides to turn off the taps.
MASSIMO DE ODOARDO, VP GAS AND LNG RESEARCH, WOOD MACKENZIE: The issue comes, obviously, if there are Russian supply disruptions. I think that in that case, unfortunately, even with the LNG, the situation could be extremely difficult for Europe.
SEBASTIAN: While gas runs through pipelines, LNG requires specialized terminals to liquefy it before loading onto ships. And regassify it on arrival.
ODOARDO: The places where European countries are rushing to try and build additional infrastructure is Germany and Italy. Germany doesn't have any regas capacity at the moment, and Italy has very little.
SEBASTIAN: Building those terminals takes several years. The quick option is to use specialized ships, known as floating storage regassification units, that can be installed in a matter of months.
European countries are now racing to source these.
Russia predictably says diversifying away from its fossil fuels is impossible.
The country's deputy prime minister warning in a recent address to the Russian Parliament that without Russian hydrocarbons, the global market would collapse. Experts agree right now, there's no direct replacement.
For the longer term, the E.U. and U.S. say this will accelerate efforts to generate more renewable energy.
GRANHOLM: The climate is not going to wait on our efforts to confront autocrats. Both crises need addressing now.
SEBASTIAN (on camera): There's not a moment to lose. Germany activated an early warning Wednesday amid fears of possible gas shortages after G-7 countries refused Russia's demand to pay for gas in rubles.
And now attention also turns to OPEC and OPEC Plus, which includes Russia. They are meeting on Thursday and have so far resisted pressure to accelerate planned oil production increases to help stabilize the markets.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: In the U.S., President Joe Biden is considering releasing a record amount of oil from the country's reserves to help reign in gas prices.
Biden's plan involves releasing around a million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserves every day. That's according to a source close to the deliberations, which adds the announcement may come later on Thursday.
War in Ukraine caused a spike in gas prices in the U.S., which was already dealing with high prices.
Three deadly attacks in a one-week period has Israel on high alert. Five people were killed in the latest attack near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, and the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is urging Israelis with firearm licenses to carry guns at all times.
CNN's Hadas Gold reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mourners packed the streets of the ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Brak on Wednesday. Funerals for two of the five victims of a deadly terror attack the night before, the third such attack in Israel in just a week. The death toll, now at 11 in what officials are calling a new wave of terror.
(on camera): The attack started here when two Ukrainian nationals sitting outside this convenience store right here were shot. And a driver at the intersection was shot through this window before a father walking his baby son was shot just along the street. The baby was unharmed.
(voice-over): Two police officers on motorcycle engaged the attacker, shooting and killing him, although one of the officers later succumbed to his wounds.
SLOMO DUBE, BNEI BRAK RESIDENT: It is something that we are very shocked. It is something that never happened in the city at all. And I'm from Jerusalem originally, and over there we knew more of these things.
GOLD: Just last Sunday in Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, two Israeli border police were killed and six passer-bys [SIC] injured in a shooting by two assailants affiliated with ISIS. And the week before, four Israelis were killed in a stabbing and
ramming attack in the southern city of Be'er Sheva by a man who had once been arrested for supporting ISIS.
Tuesday night's attack was carried out by a Palestinian from the West Bank, with Palestinian militant group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claiming responsibility, directly tying the attack as a response to the historic summit earlier this week, where four Arab foreign ministers met with their American and Israeli counterparts in Israel.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement that Israel is facing a wave of murderous era of terrorism, vowing to fight terror with an iron fist.
And Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned Tuesday's attack.
The Israeli security forces are now on high alert, already bracing for violence in the coming weeks, as tensions have been rising in Jerusalem and the West Bank, especially as the holidays of Ramadan, Passover, and Easter coincide this year.
Hadas Gold, CNN, Bnei Brak, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right. Still to come, comedian Chris Rock makes his first public comment since being slapped at the Oscars, while actor Will Smith waits to learn what punishment he could face. Stay with us.
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[00:52;24]
BRUNHUBER: In his first public comments since the Oscars, comedian Chris Rock says he's still processing what happened at Sunday night's ceremony.
Rock performed a sold-out show in Boston Wednesday and got two standing ovations from the crowd. He said at some point, he'll talk about the slap he received from Will Smith for telling a joke about his wife.
In the meantime, the film Academy is considering what action to take against Smith. Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has initiated disciplinary proceedings against actor Will Smith for violating the Academy's standards of conduct, according to a statement from the Academy, violations which it says include inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy, when Smith slapped Chris Rock live at the Oscars. CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: That was a nice one, OK. I'm out here. Uh-oh. Oh
wow. Wow.
TODD: In its statement, the Academy also apologized to Rock and said Will Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused.
Comedian Wanda Sykes, one of the three co-hosts of the Oscars, broke her silence on Ellen DeGeneres's talk show.
WANDA SYKES, CO-HOST OF OSCARS 2022: And I just felt so awful for my -- my friend, you know, Chris, and -- and it was sickening. It was absolutely -- I physically felt ill.
ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: Me, too.
SYKES: And I'm still a little traumatized by it.
TODD: Sykes's co-host, Amy Schumer, posted a statement on Instagram saying, "I'm still in shock, and stunned, and sad."
And uncensored feed from a Japanese outlet shows how Rock and Smith reacted immediately afterwards.
ROCK: Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: Leave my wife's name out of your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth.
ROCK: Wow, dude.
SMITH: Yes.
ROCK: It was a "G.I. Jane" joke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
SMITH: Keep my wife's name out of your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth.
TODD: How could the Academy punish Smith?
BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: I can see them possibly taking steps about his membership in the Academy. I mean, they could remove him from the Academy. They could take away his voting rights for future Oscar votes. They could take away his participation in other Academy events.
And they could ban him from coming back next year. I think that's most likely.
TODD: What most observers don't expect is for the Academy to take away the Oscar that Smith just won for Best Actor in the movie "King Richard."
The Academy didn't take Oscars away from Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after sexual assault allegations were leveled against him.
[00:55:04]
And director Roman Polanski was awarded an Oscar while he was a fugitive from the U.S., decades after he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor.
The Academy did expel Weinstein, and once expelled actor Carmine Caridi for violating the Academy's voting rules.
(on camera): Chris Rock is now back on tour. His standup comedy act sold out at several venues across the U.S.
Rock's younger brother, Tony, also an actor and comedian, has spoken out on Twitter. Asked if he approved of Will Smith's apology to his brother, Tony Rock replied no. Asked how his brother is doing, he replied, "Still rich."
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber at CNN Center in Atlanta. We'll go back to Hala Gorani, life in Lviv, after the break. Please do stay with us.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
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