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Growing Horror Over Scenes of Brutality in Kyiv Suburb; CNN Crew's Close Call with Artillery Fire Near Mykolaiv; Kyiv Teen Forced to Flee Home, Leave Parents Behind; World Leaders Condemn Bucha Civilian Killings; Colorado Steel Mill Linked to Russian Oligarch Faces Uncertainly. War Adds New Urgency to Push for Renewable Energy. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 05, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Horrific scenes coming from the town of Bucha, just outside the capitol Kyiv. Ukraine's president says there's evidence that more than 300 people were killed and tortured while Russian troops occupied that town. The White House warning Bucha will not be the last.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We should be under no illusions that Russia will adjust its tactics, which have included and will likely continue to include wanton and brazen attacks on civilian targets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A warning now that the images you're about to see are graphic and some viewers will find them hard to watch. CNN's team on the ground of Bucha captured these images. Several bodies, hands tied behind their back shot and killed, then left in a basement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha on Monday to see the death and destruction firsthand. While there, he admitted that continuing negotiations with Russia will be hard after seeing the atrocities in Bucha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Every day when our troops are liberating occupied territories, you can see what is happening here. It's very difficult to negotiate when you see what they have done here. Every day we find people in barrels strangled, tortured in the basement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And in the coming hours, President Zelenskyy is expected to address the U.N. Security Council meeting that is set to focus on the atrocities committed in Bucha. Ukraine also expected to make the case against Russia's claims that the images from Bucha are fake. Satellite images though suggests otherwise take a look at this, on the left side, stills from a video taken on Friday, showing bodies in the street, that was just Friday. On the right, satellite images taken more than two weeks ago, showing what appears to be those same bodies lying in the same spot.
Town of Bucha is the site of some of the worst atrocities we've seen in Ukraine so far. ITN News Correspondent Dan Rivers went to Bucha to see the devastation for himself. And again a warning, his report contains those disturbing graphic images, but they do show the brutality and sheer cruelty of what happened in Bucha under Russian occupation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The gateway to Bucha and Hostamil (ph), there are the mangled remains of Russian vehicles, and the blown bridge which marks the extent of their advance. And nearby the burnt bodies of soldiers killed here by a Ukrainian counter offensive, gruesome sentinels to a battlefield, in which dated Russian machinery was pitted against the latest Western supplied anti-tank weapons.
And this was the result, a rewriting of the orthodoxy about Russia's perceived military strength. Some of the Russians who sought to occupy this commuter town near Kyiv will probably never leave, thanks to one man's war. The remains may never be repatriated, or possibly even identified.
(On camera): This is the most potent symbol of the Russian defeat here in Bucha, a street choked with the charred remains of their tanks and armored vehicles. Now, they've gone, we're beginning to get a fuller picture of the terrible toll inflicted on the civilian population here.
(Voice-over): War in all its grotesque brutality, is turn the streets into a hell from which there is no triumph. Massacres of Ukrainian men has been uncovered by the army here. The war crimes committed here mark a bleak new low in this conflict described by Ukraine as the most outrageous atrocity of the 21st century. There isn't just one site where massacres occurred, the true picture here is only just emerging.
This man in Hostamil (ph) tells me about the rape and dismemberment of a young woman at the hands of two Chechen soldiers. He says they just slaughtered her like a lamb, but as he took his revenge with other local men killing them both.
For the civilians like Maxim Skripnik, caught between the two sides, there was little to do but pray for deliverance.
(On camera): Describe what it was like the bombardment, I mean, describe how it felt to you.
MAXIM SKRIPNIK, BUCHA RESIDENT: Terrible. It was completely terrible, you know, near my car, was exploded free minds.
RIVERS: Some of the dead were buried by their neighbors close to the shattered remains of their homes. This is where eternalize hit by a shell, a grave adorned with food and drink her relatives would have traditionally shared at her funeral, her son has been unable to reach the town to grieve for his mother. But many more were hastily entered without headstones or even identification. Here it's believed 280 people were buried in mass graves, one row for Ukrainians, one for Russian.
[01:05:01]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): This is horrible. We survived this. They were shelling us. I cannot find words to describe what we lived through.
RIVERS: This family appear to have escaped unscathed after days in a bunker. Until, you know, Deema's father was detained by the Russians and never seen again. As he swings, he says if the bad man come back, I'll stamp on them. There seems little chance now of the Russians fighting their way back into these towns, but the legacy of their brief reign of terror will never be forgotten.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let's go to Malcolm Davis now. He's a Senior Analyst of the Defense Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He is in Darwin this hour.
Malcolm, thank you for being with us. I want to start with now there are these revelations of how what the Russian occupying forces have done in those villages and towns, the atrocities which have been committed, and the outrage it has sparked around the world. Is that likely to be any kind of moderating influence as this conflict moves forward? Are they likely to change their behavior in any way?
MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST: Look, I think firstly, it makes the negotiate a settlement just almost impossible. I do not see how President Zelenskyy can now ask the Ukrainian people to make significant concessions to the Russians, including territorial concessions, that would leave Ukrainian people under Russian control, after Bucha and other massacres, particularly as more come to light. So the first point is territory. First point is negotiate the term I think is dead in the water. Second point, I think, is it really does place a lot of pressure now on NATO, and the West to do a lot more than what they've done.
And frankly, I am staggered, that the Biden administration and NATO and E.U. have not already moved much more quickly and much more extensively to respond to these massacres. As for the Russians, they're going to continue to do what they've done in Bucha and elsewhere. This is the way they are. These are not soldiers. These are animals. And I do think that we need to recognize that there will be many more Bucha's in the days weeks ahead.
VAUSE: You say you're disappointed, excuse me, in the actions taken by NATO and the United States in wake of these images and the atrocities which have been committed, but what can they do?
DAVIS: Well, for starters, I think Germany could be much more willing to cut off oil and natural gas to the Russians from the Russians now, rather than in five years, or 10 years' time. So we need to inflict a lot more economic pain on Russia immediately, rather than down the track.
Secondly, I would imagine that there needs to be a much more assertive move and a much more visible move by NATO to provide heavy armor, artillery. And indeed, let's move again on supplying quite a jets to Ukraine give the Ukrainians what they need in order to win this war, because the only way this war ends in a justifiable manner is if is with a Russian comprehensive defeat, rather than some sort of face saving off ramp where concessions are made to the Putin regime. I think that is untenable at this point.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to the spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense and what he now believes the Ukrainians now believe of Russian goals to the east, at least in the short term. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. OLEKSANDR MOTUZYANYK, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translation): The main focus of the enemy is on preparations for the resumption of offensive operations to surround the joint forces and captured the city of Kharkiv.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So when he says joint forces, he's talking joint forces operations, which is based in Donbass. And it's more than just Ukrainian soldiers and highly trained Ukrainian soldiers. But why is there so much concern here, if the joint operation forces operations for because that changed the balance in the favor of the Russians?
DAVIS: If the Russians can regroup and re-equip and rebuild their logistics, then they could launch offensive operations against joint forces in that area, cut them off from Ukrainian supplies, and ultimately surround them and destroy them. And it's not just the military forces there, it's also the civilian population that is still trapped in cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv.
So, I do think there is real concern what was seen in Bucha could be replicated 100 fold or 1000 fold in a major Ukrainian city captured by the Russians. And I think that that's why we do need to start assisting the Ukrainians with the types of weapon systems, the heavy weapon systems, the maneuver capabilities that they need, in order to go on the offensive on a major scale, and actually decisively defeat the Russians rather than pinprick attacks.
VAUSE: There's still the question of Russian losses last week, the Centers for Strategic and International Studies published, the report saying, Russia may have lost 25% of its initial attacking force these casualties are not on the scale of World War II but a large compared with the relatively small size of the Russian military today, although reinforcements and replacements can offset some of these casualties, the loss of trained troops will impair military operations and eventually have a political affect. That 25% includes dead wounded soldiers. Do you agree with that assessment? And what are the implications?
[01:10:25]
DAVIS: Yeah, I do agree with the SS assessment. I think that it's accurate. And I do think that those are significant losses. But they're not the sort of losses that would prevent the Russians from regrouping and rebuilding over the long term. So the Russians are in this prolonged battle now. They're bringing in reserves and fresh forces. I do think that there is a risk that we prematurely assume that the Russians are defeated. They have taken a heavy blow after the initial phase of this conflict, but they're now calling back into the East. They're regrouping rebuilding their logistics, and they could easily impose defeat on Ukrainian forces. So I do think that we do need to maximize our opportunities whilst we have them in terms of inflicting damage and cost on the Russian forces whilst they're regrouping because that's when they're vulnerable.
VAUSE: Malcolm David, thank you for being with us sir, we appreciate it.
Well, for weeks, the southern city of Mykolaiv has endured relentless Russian bombardment. The latest strikes in a residential neighborhood. Many says at least 10 civilians were killed on Sunday and Monday, well, nearly 50 others were wounded. We're told some victims are in very serious condition, and the death toll is likely to rise. The mayor added that Russian targets so far include hospitals, kindergartens, schools.
Not too far from Mykolaiv, CNN's Ben Wedeman and his team were a few 100 feet from incoming artillery fire. They stopped to speak with Ukrainian soldiers out in the open with little cover. To be sure this was a close call. One crew car was so badly damaged it was undriveable the other also damaged was still able to reach safety. Here's Ben report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is an area where there's been a fair amount of outgoing as well as incoming artillery down the road is a town that has been fought over for several days by Russian and Ukrainian forces.
In these vast open spaces, the Russians seem far away. They're not.
(On camera): OK. Down here John, down here. Keep on rolling. You see it over there?
(Voice-over): We hug the earth. Two more artillery rounds. Oh shit. Camera man John Torigue (ph) keeps rolling.
(On camera): Alrighty, so we had two incoming rounds responding to artillery that's been firing in the Russian directions. The shells came pretty close to us.
(Voice-over): No one has been injured. The officer tells translator Vladier Dubrovsky (ph) we need to go now. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said go away, hide and run.
WEDEMAN: OK, OK. I think it's safe. OK, I hope the care is OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready to move?
WEDEMAN: Yeah, let's go.
(Voice-over): And so we run with full body armor to the cars. One car can't move peppered with shrapnel.
(On camera): We're losing petrol.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): No time to lose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throw it in the back.
WEDEMAN: Driver Igor Tiago (ph) razor focused on getting us to safety his car also hit.
WEDEMAN (on camera): All right. Righty now we're trying to get out of this area as quickly as possible. Our other car completely destroyed.
[01:15:03]
(Voice-over): Crammed into this small car we approach safer ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to go into the Old Covenant village and then we'll take a breather.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Producer Karim Hader (ph) checks the damage to the car. The soldiers we left behind are still out there. We could leave. They can't. Ben Wedeman, CNN outside Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, signs and the horrors of Bucha will be replicated elsewhere. There's new evidence that's merging from the outskirts of Kyiv as Ukrainian forces retake territory once held by Russian soldiers. We'll have all the details in a moment.
Also a teenager from Kyiv forced to flee her home and leave her parents behind for a safer life in Hungary, her incredible story, a middle war, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:04]
VAUSE: Right now, you're looking at drone footage of the destruction in Mariupol, Ukraine, a city under siege for weeks by Russian forces. The mayor says Mariupol is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, with more than 100,000 people in need of evacuation. He says the city has not had food, water or medicine in more than a month. Says the situation is, "very difficult," which seems to be an incredible understatement.
The Red Cross says another attempt to reach Mariupol failed on Monday, again because of security issues. Red cross team has been trying to enter the city since Saturday actually since Friday, to provide humanitarian aid and help with civilian evacuations.
Among the millions of Ukrainians who fled their country his 17 year old Alla Renska who lived in Kyiv. When the Russians invaded her parents sent her Hungary for her own safety. Alla is now studying and the School of Budapest but this is bittersweet. She is now separated. She's on her own. No family, stuck in Ukraine. Here's CNN Matt Rivers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's got a pink backpack, a warm smile, and she's already made friends. Even though 17 year old Alla Renska, a Ukrainian has only been here in Budapest, Hungary for a month.
(On camera): Six months?
ALLA RENSKA, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE: Yeah.
RIVERS (voice-over): In an empty classroom of her new school, we sit and talk about how she never thought she'd end up here.
RENSKA: No, no war. It's --
RIVERS: You didn't believe it?
RENSKA: Yes, 21st century. It's Ukraine, it's Europe. Why?
RIVERS: Before the war if she was just a normal teenager making goofy videos with her friends, taking selfies. But then the war reached where she lived in Kyiv.
RIVERS: When did your family decide that you -- it wasn't safe for you to be in Ukraine anymore?
RENSKA: When we heard explosions, and our houses just like --
RIVERS: Your house was shaken?
RENSKA: Yes.
RIVERS (voice-over): Her parents made the agonizing decision to send her to stay with friends in Budapest. Alla's dad took her to the train station on March 4, but in the crush of people also trying to leave they were separated.
(On camera): Could you see your dad when you were -- when the train was leaving?
RENSKA: No.
RIVERS: Was that hard?
RENSKA: Yeah. I cried. Maybe all nights.
RIVERS (voice-over): She took only these pictures from the train a bleak landscape she says matched how she felt. But then an idea. She wrote an email to Korosi Baptist High School, one of the best in Hungary talking about the war and what happened to her. I really want to go to school and continue studying, she wrote. I kindly asked you to help me.
And help they did. The school converted these old containers into dorms where Alla now lives and studies. Her days are spent in classes and at night, she chats with a few other Ukrainian girls just like her who also fled now living there too. Even though she does still miss her family.
RENSKA: I tried to not crying and I tried to be strong because my parents I know that when I cry and they also feel not very good.
RIVERS: That strength on full display when Alla video calls with her parents later that day, it's all smiles and updates on school and work. We say hello and ask an obvious question.
(On camera): How difficult is it right now to not have Alla with you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I cannot explain because it's too hard for me. I'm happy that my daughter I love her very much, that she is safe now is the main for me.
RIVERS: A few minutes later though the call is over how and Alla's stoic (inaudible) falters.
(On camera): How was that for you?
RENSKA: I try to not cry.
RIVERS: They love you very much.
RENSKA: Me too.
RIVERS: What are you thinking?
RENSKA: It's unfair, it's so unfair that I should be here. My friends are there.
RIVERS: This is what war does to a happy 17 year old. But she is determined to stay optimistic. This is a photo she wanted us to show. Her parents sent it to her right after she left. The first spring flower to push through the snow near her house. Aside they said of brighter times to come. Matt Rivers, Budapest Hungary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:25:11]
VAUSE: Yeah, it's unfair indeed. Well, if you would like to help people in Ukraine, that who need a shelter, food, water, medical supplies pretty much everything right now, please go to cnn.com/impact. There you'll find a number of ways that you can help out.
When we come back, world leaders planning more sanctions on Russia, as horrifying images of brutality emerged from the Ukrainian town of Bucha and others. There's more evidence piling up on that.
Plus, Kremlin connections with the owner of a Colorado steel mill, and the factory workers who feared they could have ties to Putin's war on Ukraine. A CNN investigation still to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:00]
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. There are new images continuing to emerge of Russia's brutal occupation across parts of Ukraine including in town on the outskirts of the capital.
And again, a warning: these images are disturbing. And they appear to show the bodies of the town's mayor, her husband, son. The Ukrainian deputy prime minister told CNN earlier that they were brutally murdered by Russian forces. Some were showing signs of torture. All of them, shot in their head.
Ukraine's president is warning civilian casualties may be high in areas that have now been liberated from the Russians by Ukrainian forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There is already information that the number of victims of the occupiers maybe even higher in the Borodyanka and some other liberated. In many villages of the liberated districts of the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the occupiers that think that the locals are not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago. The occupiers will definitely bear responsibility for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Strong words from the Ukrainian president who visited the town of Bucha. That's where the shocking images began to emerge on Friday. We ought to warn you now, there are more images coming, and they too are graphic.
Horrific scene out of Bucha where bodies of civilians can be seen lying in the street. That prompted a swift global response. Some nations are now expelling Russian diplomats where others are vowing further sanctions.
The British foreign secretary says Russia must be suspended from the U.N. Human Rights Council, following what which she called war crimes and says the U.K. is looking to step up sanctions as well.
We also heard from the president of the European parliament.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTA METSOLA, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT: We need to step up our strategy of making this illegal invasion the costliest mistake that the Kremlin has ever made. And the hit to Russia's economy must be proportionate to the unprecedented atrocities that we are seeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The White House says more sanctions against Russia are coming this week. President Joe Biden calling for war crime charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
CNN's Phil Mattingly has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden, long before many of his closest advisors were willing to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, did so himself. And as the horrors of the images of what took place in Bucha is beamed around the world, he wanted to underscore that point and make clear everything he has seen since has certainly proven that to be the case.
Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is a war criminal. We have to gather all the details so this could be an actually have a war crime trial. This guy is brutal. And what is happening in Bucha is outrageous.
MATTINGLY: Biden's comments underscore a reality here, one in which U.S. officials are not willing to call what they've seen up to this point a genocide. This is a process. A lengthy one, a multilateral one, one in which the U.S. has engaged with the international community to collect, to process, to analyze information and intelligence for an eventual legal case.
When that case would actually come to pass, when anybody would actually go on trial, still very much an open question. Particularly, given the fact that the conflict is still very much ongoing.
It was something national security adviser Jake Sullivan laid out to the media that while Russia may be retreating from the suburbs of Kyiv. They are very much refocusing their efforts on the eastern part of the country. And it is not going to be a short process ahead.
In fact, Jake Sullivan said it could take months, and that, in his perspective underscored the reality of the moment. A reality where complacency simply, according to him, cannot be something that takes over with the west, with the U.S. and its key allies.
More sanctions, they will be deployed in the days ahead. More lethal assistance to Ukraine, humanitarian aid -- that will be coming as well. Jake Sullivan's point, the president's point, the U.S. perspective at this point in time, is that this is going to take a long time. And, while the Ukrainian military has certainly performed far above expectations better than anybody could've hoped for, this isn't ending anytime soon and with support from allies, the U.S., the E.U. and others is an absolute necessity at this point as Russia prepares to reengage in a major way in just a different part of the country.
Phil Mattingly, CNN -- the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: American steel workers in Colorado are grappling with the fact that their company is linked to a powerful Russian oligarch, accused of supplying material for Putin's military.
CNN's Drew Griffin has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It is an impressive sight, American steel being forged by 1,200 proud U.S. workers in a steel mill that's operated in Pueblo, Colorado for nearly 150 years.
Evraz Steel could not be a better symbol of American industrial resurgence except for one now gut-wrenching problem, it's Russian.
[01:34:56]
CHUCK PERKO, PRESIDENT, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: We have that stigma of being a Russian owned company.
GRIFFIN: Two-thirds of all shares of this mill's parent company are owned by Kremlin-connected Russians. And its biggest shareholder is the oligarch, Roman Abramovich, who is closely allied with Vladimir Putin and has been sanctioned by the U.K., E.U. and Canada.
The British claimed the Abramovich is or has been involved in destabilizing Ukraine, via Evraz PLC, including potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks. The company denies it.
But when Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. Steel workers here in Pueblo woke up to a distasteful possibility that somehow, they are supporting Vladimir Putin in this.
DANIEL DURAN, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: Hearing all this stuff, it's heartbreaking. And you know, (INAUDIBLE). I have my own kids and it makes it tough to sit there and see all the stuff going on.
GRIFFIN: Steel workers Daniel Duran, Rique Lucero and Chuck Perko (ph) are afraid of what might happen if Abramovich is sanctioned by the U.S.
RIQUE LUCERO, STEELWORKERS LOCAL 3267: It's just, the uncertainty, it's scary. It's a little scary. GRIFFIN: Uncertainly for your jobs.
LUCERO: For the jobs, yes
PERKO: I disdain what's going on over there but my company is not Abramovich's company in my eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to go through this door here.
GRIFFIN: David Ferryman is senior vice president of Evraz North America.
Do you consider this a Russian owned company?
DAVID FERRYMAN, SVP, EVRAZ NORTH AMERICA: I don't. We're headquartered, independent operation in Chicago. We have our own CEO. We have our own board of directors. We are based in London. Yes, the parent company has a large footprint in Russia.
GRIFFIN: That footprint includes a massive Russian business. Evraz 2021 report shows revenue of $14 billion and that 16 percent of the parent company's revenue is derived from the North American plants. Abramovich himself made $522 million from Evraz dividends last year.
Ferryman insists the revenues generated in Evraz Steel Mills across North America are reinvested in the company in North America.
So your position is that these are completely separate entities?
FERRYMAN: I'm not saying they're completely separate. Those earnings stay here in North America. They are invested into these facilities.
GRIFFIN: Technically, that may make sense to you.
But when we watch what's happening, there is a lot of people wondering how a Russian oligarch can invest in a U.S. steel mill and be making some money here while also playing footsie with Vladimir Putin?
FERRYMAN: I can't speak for that. What I can tell you is that we are about as American a company as it gets here in Pueblo. We have been here long hair that Colorado's been a state. We are really critical to our nation's infrastructure.
CASEY MICHEL, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN KLEPTOCRACY": The thing to remember is this is all connected.
GRIFFIN: Oligarch expert and author Casey Michel says there is no doubt Abramovich's money helps Putin. The E.U. said Abramovich is providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation.
MICHEL: There is no such thing as an independent or apolitical oligarch. These parasitic figures that extracted wealth in Russia are now extracting wealth in the United States of America, all on behalf of a dictatorship in the Kremlin.
GRIFFIN: Exactly, says Ukrainians for Colorado president, Marina Dubrova.
MARINA DUBROVA, PRESIDENT, UKRAINIANS FOR COLORADO: It doesn't matter how many, what's the stakes he owns in that company. Any stakes, half percent, even one tenth of a percent, that portion has to be sold.
GRIFFIN: Union president, Chuck Perko agrees Abramovich should cell. To him, it's personal.
PERKO: I am the grandson of war refugees. The Russians came into my grandparents' farm in 1945 and told them you have one hour to leave.
It hurts a little bit, but there is enough of a disconnect for me that I can go to work and know that we are not funding that war effort. We are completely separate.
GRIFFIN: Despite U.K., EU, and Canadian sanctions against him so far, the United States has not touched Roman Abramovich.
DUBROVA: The United States is still ignoring the fact that civilians are being killed. Look at Mariupol, I mean how much more evidence does United States has to have to make a decision?
GRIFFIN: As for why the Biden administration has not yet sanctioned Abramovich, sources telling CNN's Phil Mattingly at the White House that treasury is looking at sanctions. But also trying to spare Evraz's U.S. plan so it doesn't damage anybody in the U.S. Economy particularly, those U.S. steel worker jobs.
Drew Griffin, CNN -- Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:39:55]
VAUSE: I'll have a lot more from Ukraine at the top of the hour. But first I would like to bring in Rosemary Church. She is standing by at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
It is a complicated world out there when you look at all the connections around the world with business, Russia and all this sort of stuff.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, everyone play some sort of part in all of this.
Thank you so much, John, joining us from Lviv. We'll get back to you at the top of the hour.
Well, authorities in Spain have seized the yacht of a Russian oligarch at the request of the United States. On Monday, Spanish and American officials raided the vessel which belongs to Viktor Vekselberg. He is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and had been sanctioned by the U.S. over Russia's war on Ukraine.
The seizure of this yacht was the first one conducted by a U.S. task force which cracks down on sanction violators. And coming up, the war in Ukraine has given new urgency to Europe's transition to renewable energy as the continent tries to end it's reliance on Russian fossil fuels.
[01:41:01]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The southeastern U.S. is bracing for more severe weather. Storms are unfolding across the Southern Plains. Tornado watches have been issued for parts of Texas with dangerous weather threatening some 35 million people across the Gulf Coast.
Now, this will be the third straight week of severe storms for the region. And you are looking at the aftermath of a tornado that hit Arkansas last week.
A new U.N. report on climate change calls for the rapid phasing out of fossil fuels. But the report also showed there is a lack of political will to scale up the use of renewable energy. The U.N. secretary general is warning of the risks of doing nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double 1.5 degree limit agreed in Paris. Some government and business leaders are saying one thing but doing another. Simply put, they are lying.
And, the result will be catastrophic. This is a climate emergency. Climate scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has jump-started renewable energy efforts in the European Union as part of an effort to wean itself from Russian oil and natural gas. But experts say the United States is missing the opportunity to step up its own transition to renewable energy.
CNN's Rene Marsh has the story now from Washington.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Russia invaded Ukraine, it triggered what climate change warnings did not. It expedited Europe's plans for transitioning to renewable energy.
Since the invasion, Germany announced its speeding up wind and solar energy projects, France ended its gas heater subsidies, Italy is moving to build a six new wind farms, and the Netherlands is also ramping up offshore winds. All in an effort to end reliance on Russian oil and gas. The war giving an urgent push to Europe's clean energy transition. NIKOS TSAFOS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: When
there's a national security imperative, it's far easier to get consensus to spend money to push forward more dramatic changes.
MARSH: The Russian invasion, high gas prices, advancements in the renewable energy sector, and a climate crisis have all converged to create a moment for the green energy movement like never before.
Yet scientists and energy experts say the United States is in danger of missing this moment.
TSAFOS: Right now, Europe is leading and it's working faster than others. But obviously this is a global problem that we all need to be on the same page.
RACHEL CLEETUS, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: The United States is one of the leading contributors to heat tracking (ph) emissions and its actions are critical to meet global climate goals.
MARSH: The E.U. has adopted a climate law setting 2050 as the target date for zero emission. No such legislation has passed in the U.S. Biden's climate push in Build Back Better remains stymied by politics.
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: We are playing catch-up. There's no doubt about it. All of the infrastructure laws that were in the bipartisan infrastructure law, that are in hopefully the next version of what Congress will pass, these tax credits for clean energy and renewable energy, that has to be part of our strategy.
MARSH: An urgent new U.N.-backed climate change report released Monday calls for an immediate transition to renewable energy to avoid climate catastrophe.
TSAFOS: I'm really worried that the United States is going to miss this moment because there is no real consensus. And because there is no political consensus, we cannot have a big piece of legislation, which is what you really need if you are going to supercharge the transition.
MARSH: On Capitol Hill last week, lawmakers raised concern the U.S. also lacks in producing the critical minerals that power things like batteries for electric vehicles, a space China dominates.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): What we have seen Russia do by weaponizing energy, I guarantee you China will do the same thing weaponizing critical minerals.
MARSH: Russia's aggression has set off the race for renewables in Europe. But the question remains, will the U.S. catch up?
Well, President Biden has taken what actions he can without Congress including last week when he invoked the Defense Production Act intended to jump-start the production of minerals needed to power renewables right here in the United States.
[01:49:45] MARSH: But that move alone can't spur the aggressive transition that this climate report is urgently calling for. So it comes down to a choice between political consensus for strong climate legislation or climate disaster.
Rene Marsh, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Time for a short break now.
When we come back, college basketball has a new champion. The record- breaking come back and the exciting finish.
Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Jayhawks fans are celebrating into the early morning in Lawrence, Kansas. The men's basketball team defeated the North Carolina Tarheels to claim their fourth college championship.
CNN's Andy Scholes is in New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Final Four are coming to an end with yet another amazing emotional game, just full of the run (ph) and for the fourth time in their history, the Kansas Jayhawk's are national champions.
[01:54:51]
SCHOLES: But it certainly wasn't easy, North Carolina catching fire in their first half. Brady Manek (ph) making 3 threes. The Tarheels went on a 16-0 run, led by 15 at halftime.
But Kansas came storming back in the second half thanks to a 31 to 10 run. Then, they were down 1 with under 90 seconds left. And the Jayhawk's big man, David McCormack coming up huge with back to back buckets to give Kansas a three-point lead.
Tarheels had one last chance but they're three no good. Kansas celebrates an amazing comeback winning 72 to 69. It was the largest comeback in championship game history.
BILL SELF, KANSAS JAYHAWKS COACH: It is great for us. We played a terrific team. They played their butts off in the first half. We had no answer and then somehow the switch flipped to the second half and our guys were unbelievable.
SCHOLES: How happy are you, coming with that kind of a come back.
SELF: It would be unbelievable to win at all, but to win in that way, that would be one that not so many people forget very soon. SCHOLES: This is the first championship for Kansas since 2008. The
second for head coach Bill Self. And he told me, he has coached a lot of talented teams over the years. But what set this group of players apart is how much they love and wanted to win for each other.
In New Orleans -- Andy Scholes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And thanks for spending part of your day with us.
I will be back later next hour. And our breaking news coverage continues with John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine. that's next.
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