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Ukrainian Town Of Borodyanka In Ruins After Battle; Blinken Accuses Russia Of "Campaign" Against Ukrainian Civilians; The U.S. Is Expected To Announce New Sanctions Against Russia; Shanghai Scrambling to Contain COVID Outbreak; Tiger Woods Returns to the Masters. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 06, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JOHN VAUSE: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you for joining us for our breaking news coverage of Russia's brutal military offensive. Now it is day 42.

We begin with what signs that Ukraine -- Russia toward Ukraine is now entering a new phase, which could see this conflict lasting months, possibly years. NATO expects Russia to launch a major offensive in southern and eastern Ukraine in the coming weeks. But already in the Kharkiv region right next to Russia's border, more than 50 Russian strikes in the past 24 hours alone, about two strikes every hour, killing at least six people according to Ukrainian officials.

And to the south of Mykolaiv, local officials say Russian troops showed a children's hospital on Monday. Security footage appears to show the moment the strike hit and ambulances parked outside. A team from Doctors Without Borders was on site at a nearby hospital confirmed strikes there and at the children's hospital as well.

Meantime, America's top ranking military officials are warning that Russia's war in Ukraine could be the first of similar conflicts to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARK MILLEY, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable, and the potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing, not decreasing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine's president is demanding the United Nations do more to end Russia's invasion, questioning the Security Council's very mandate. Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed the UN a graphic video documenting the death and destruction in cities across his country. He described the atrocities against civilians he saw during a visit to Bucha, calling Russia's actions no different than those of a terrorist group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There is not a single crime that they would not commit they are the Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country. They killed -- shot and killed women outside their houses when they just try to call someone who is alive. They killed entire families, adults and children and they try to burn the bodies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: President Zelenskyy says Borodianka is another Ukrainian city where Russia's brutality against civilians is only now coming to light after Putin's troops have retreated. Borodianka is near the town of Bucha and CNN's Fred Pleitgen received the firsthand look at the carnage and the widespread destruction and a warning, some of the images and the details in his report are graphic, graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine, few places have suffered more than Borodianka occupied by Vladimir Putin's troops since late February recently taken back by Ukraine's army.

(on camera): Borodianka was held by the Russians for a very long time and just to give you an idea about the scale of the destruction, you have houses like these that were completely destroyed, but if we look over here you can see that even large residential buildings have been flattened. This entire building was flattened. It was connected with this one before but now there's absolutely nothing left of it.

(voice-over): And the Russians made sure to show they owned this town painting the letter V on occupied buildings even defacing Borodianka's city administration.

V is the letter the Russians used to help identify their forces that invaded this part of Ukraine. Oksana Kostischinko (ph) and her husband just returned here and found Russian soldiers had been staying in their house. She says they ransack the place.

Alcohol is everywhere, she says. Empty bottles in the hallway under things they smoked a lot, put out cigarettes on the table. They also showed us the corpse of a man they found in their backyard. His hands and feet tied severe bruises on his body, a shell casings still nearby.

Russia claims its forces don't target civilians calling reports of atrocities fake and provocations. But these body collectors are the ones who have to remove the carnage Russia's military leaves in its wake.

In a span of less than an hour they found a person gunned down while riding a bicycle. A body burned beyond recognition. And the man still stuck in his car gunned down with bullet holes in his head and chest. He was believed to be transporting medical supplies now strewn near this road.

[01:05:08]

The most awful thing is those are not soldiers laying there just people innocent people, Ginadi (ph) says, for no reason I asked yes, for no reason killed and tortured for no reason, he says.

The road from Kyiv to Borodianka is lined with villages heavily damaged after Russia's occupation, destroyed tanks and armored vehicles left behind, but also indications of just how much firepower they unleashed on this area.

(on camera): The Russians say this is a special operation not a war, and that they don't harm civilians, but look how much ammunition they left behind simply in this one single firing position here. This is ammunition for heavy weapons with devastating effects on civilian areas.

(voice-over): That devastation cuts through the towns and villages north of Kyiv, where the number of dead continues to rise. Now that Vladimir Putin his armies have withdrawn, Ukraine's leaders still believe many more bodies could be buried beneath the rubble. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Borodianka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: Sam Roggeveen is the director of the International Security Program, the Lowy Institute and independent think tank based in Australia.

Sam, thank you for being with us right now, at this hour. Beyond the atrocities on the ground, we're seeing here in Ukraine, they're also these reports, which have been raised by the U.S. Ambassador to the UN of filtration camps in Russia, where possibly thousands of Ukrainian women and children have been sent. So what more do we know about these camps? And does this add to the evidence that these atrocities we're now seeing in parts of Ukraine are all part of a premeditated plan?

SAM ROGGEVEEN, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAM, LOWY INSTITUTE: Look, I think it's clear that there their atrocities and war crimes happening on an extremely large scale. I think the thing that I'm most concerned about now, quite apart from the simple human factors, which were described so evocatively in your previous report, is that the events of the last few days what we're learning about the Russian campaign from the evidence of Bucha and other places, is that it makes it much more difficult to imagine a peaceful compromise settlement between Russia and Ukraine, so the evidence that's now been collected means that the areas for compromise have become smaller.

And then I think there's other factors that are on top of that. So we've seen indicators in the last couple of days that the United States is preparing to impose even tougher sanctions so as Europe. Chancellor Scholz has made noises to that effect. We've also seen that for the first time, the Czech Republic, transferring tanks to Ukraine. Germany has announced that it's transferring heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine, all indications that pressure is ratcheting up, and all of it designed to help Ukraine, certainly on the battlefield, but reducing the chances I think, of any kind of compromise settlement. And so therefore, I think we have to really prepare ourselves for a longer conflict.

VAUSE: So I want you to listen to the U.S. Secretary of State, what he says it's short, sharp, and direct. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's a deliberate campaign to kill, the torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So now we know. We also know the conflict, as you say, is likely to go on for months, U.S. officials way possible years, more Ukrainian towns will likely come under Russian control. More civilians were killed, more mothers we raped in front of their children, more children will be used as human shields.

And what the best way to do right now is to what, increase sanctions on Russia and offer a few heavy weapons? If there's time to grow a backbone for the West, isn't it now?

ROGGEVEEN: I think what we want more -- what Western leaders have to do is think past this war as difficult as that is. And as I said, the atrocities that that you've recounted just there and in your previous report, make it all the more difficult to do this. But yes, we do need to think past this war and into what might happen next and how it might get worse, as awful as this conflict now is in the Ukraine.

It is not as bad as a brought up war between the United States and Russia, which could lead to the use of nuclear weapons which would be utterly catastrophic for both countries and potentially for the world.

So I think we always you know, farsighted leaders need to look past the present circumstances. And think about what happens next.

VAUSE: Is the counter argument to that though Vladimir Putin had his way with Grozny and level that city and caused mass murder on a grand scale.

[23:10:05]

He had his way with Aleppo in Syria, were dropping barrel bombs and chemical weapons and terrifying the civilian population there. And the world did nothing. He had his way when he invaded Crimea. And the world did nothing. No one has stood up to a bully. He used banned chemical weapons of mass destruction, to try and kill a British civilian citizen on British soil. And the world did nothing. And he continues to get away with it. When does it well stand up and tell him it's enough? It's time to stop. ROGGEVEEN: Of course, it's an exaggeration to say that nothing has happened. I mean, the sanctions regime that's been imposed as the toughest of any that's ever been imposed against a nation in wartime. And it's also the case that even just in the first six days of the conflict, Western powers transferred, something in the order of 17,000, anti-tank weapons, intelligence support is being provided to Ukraine as well. So it's not the case that nothing has happened.

In fact, I think it's plausible to argue that Western assistance to Ukrainian forces has had a decisive impact that has been the difference between, you know, Russia over running the Ukrainian forces, and the kind of stalemate that we that looks like where we're going to get now. So at the very least, it's made a major difference and potentially a decisive one. But as I say, you've got what happens next.

VAUSE: And that's good point. But very quickly, China is possibly the big player here. Is it one leader? Is there one country that could actually make Vladimir Putin stop and think he's got a losing bet here, it's time to rethink? Is that China, and Xi Jinping?

ROGGEVEEN: Well, potentially but the Chinese of course, they're going to operate in their own interests, and it's not in their interests necessarily to be making a decisive diplomatic intervention here against Russia. I mean, I think the Chinese for all -- for all of the fact that they're trying to stand slightly above this conflict, do see Russia as a long term partner, and potentially even see some advantage in the fact that I thought that a weakened Russia could be -- could become a long term partner for China, because Russia does still have important technology and resources to offer China -- a growing China. So, as much as we may want China to make a decisive intervention here, I don't think it's going to happen.

VAUSE: So I hit you with some tough questions. I appreciate your answers. Thank you very much for being with us.

ROGGEVEEN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, images of atrocities committed in Ukraine are escalating efforts to punish Russia. A Biden administration official says the U.S. will impose new sanctions in the coming day.

The sweeping package expected to ban new investment in Russia and target its financial institutions. The U.S. is also targeting Kremlin officials, as well as their families.

Meantime, the European Commission is pushing for another round of sanctions the fifth on Moscow, this time proposing everything from a ban on Russian coal and other raw materials to prohibiting transactions with major Russian banks.

In a moment, CNN's Nic Robertson will have a close look at Europe's financial pressure campaign. But first we hear from Kaitlan Collins reporting in from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: On Wednesday, the White House will announce a new sanctions package on Russia after those horrifying images emerged from Bucha and other places in Ukraine of these atrocities committed by Russia. And we are told that this new package will be done in conjunction with the European Union and G7 allies for the United States.

But for the United States part, this is going to include a ban on all new investments in Russia, a tightening of the sanctions that are already in place on these Russian financial institutions and state owned enterprises, and also more sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members. And that latter part has raised some concerns about whether or not some questions about whether or not that would also include two of Putin's daughters who the European Union has discussed sanctioning.

And, of course, people have asked the White House whether or not that is something that they are also considering doing. But the White House has not yet disclosed that.

We should note that as the White House is continuing to tighten the screws apply more sanctions and more pressure on Russia. Putin has continued with this brutal assault. And according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was testifying on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, he warned that this big invasion, this protracted battle could go on for potentially years.

That comes after the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had said he believes this next phase where Russia is repositioning its forces around Ukraine after not achieving their initial objectives could take months and now Chairman Milley saying this is something that could last for years as he talked about the increased instability across the globe, of course, all caused by Russia's invasion. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DEPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): With the atrocities in Bucha spring, the European Union to trigger a fifth round of saying against Russia banning the import of Russian coal.

[01:15:04]

That's worth $4.3 billion a year to Russia. But to give an idea of that, compared to all the energy imports from Russia coal, oil and gas. Since the beginning of the war about 40 days ago, that cost has already exceeded $21 billion. So, coal a relatively small fraction of Europe's energy imports from Russia.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president saying that this new round of sanctions would bite harder into the Russian economy.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: The four packages of sanctions have hit hard and limited the Kremlin's political and economic options. We're seeing tangible results. But clearly, in view of events, we need to increase our pressure further.

So today, we are proposing to take our sanctions a step further. We will make them broader and sharper, so that they cut even deeper into the Russian economy.

ROBERTSON: She also said that sanctions were target for key Russian banks, including the VTB Bank, Russia's second largest. She also said that they would target $10.9 billion worth of exports to Russia, including high tech items like quantum computers, and rare semiconductors.

She also said that they would target Russia's shipping that Russian vessels and Russian operated vessels wouldn't be able to use European Union ports. This is Europe's effort to ramp up the economic pain on Russia. Nic Robertson, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back, Ukrainians here in the West are opening their homes and businesses to those who are fleeing Putin's war of choice. Up next, we'll hear from one local Soccer club that's doing just that.

And later, what would it take to put Russian President Vladimir Putin on trial for war crimes?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got to set the pace for saying that whenever Putin leaves the country, whenever he is accessible, he could be arrested. The only thing that he understands is strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[01:21:26]

VAUSE: 21 minutes past the hour. Welcome back, everybody. Well, millions of Ukrainians have sought safety across the border. There are others, many others who've decided to stay in Ukraine fleeing the fighting in the East seeking shelter in the West. CNN's Jake Tapper looks at how one soccer club here in Lviv is having those displaced by Putin war of choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Under the watchful eye of this lion, a local soccer team mascot, three year old Yana, exhausted finally sleeps. Yana has fled Donetsk with her mother and big sister, her aunt and cousins. It is no longer safe for her there.

But here in Lviv residents like Ukrainians across the country are opening their homes and businesses to fellow citizens. (on camera): Vulnerable families fleeing their homes seeking refuge wherever they can find it, including for this three-year-old girl and this four-year-old girl at this soccer club in Lviv.

(voice-over): The Geletisky (ph) and Lions are a minor league soccer club. They're fierce fighting spirits so far more successful off the field than on. Team executives say their offices emblazoned with Lion logos, has offered a resting place for hundreds of refugee families such as this one, stopping in on their way to the border into Poland.

(on camera): It must be very difficult to be a mother and protect your children at a time like this when there are horrible things happening.

ANASTASIA, FLED TO LVIV WITH FAMILY (through translator): Yes, it is both physically and psychologically difficult.

TAPPER: Anastasia tells us she was a pharmacist assistant before the war. Her sister in law Katia and accountant. Their husbands remain back east as their journeys likely continue soon out of the country. Now they say they are open to any job, and any safe way of life for their family.

KATIA, FLED TO LVIV WITH FAMILY (through translator): I was also a bookkeeper worked at a company. I'm also ready to take any job. We left because of our children. We left our town because we were afraid of their psychological state. We have a war there. And we were very scared.

TAPPER: Their oldest children 11-year-old Yegor and nine-year-old Valaria (ph) seems sad and confused. How was the journey?

YEGOR, FLED TO LVIV WITH FAMILY (through translator): It was very long, but I'm very happy now that we are in a safe place.

TAPPER: What do you miss the most?

YEGOR (through translator): I miss my grandmother and would like to be back in my town. Because here everything's looks very unfamiliar to me. Unknown.

TAPPER: It must be tough being a kid and having to go through all this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A bit.

TAPPER: They are after all, only 11 and nine, but they find themselves having to comfort. They're much younger siblings.

Yegor, what do you tell your little sister in the other room when she gets worried?

YEGOR (through translator): I tell her everything is going to be fine and that it will end soon.

TAPPER (voice-over): Relatively these children are lucky. Thousands of Ukrainians including the nation's youngest have been killed in Putin's brutal war. Innocent civilians murdered in their hometowns in their homes. Many more in danger of being next. And that is what motivates soccer club owner Oleg Smaliychuk.

OLEG SMALIYCHUK, OWNER OF LOCAL SOCCER CLUB (through translator): I want to change my profession. I bought a rifle. I want to become a sniper. I believe after what we have seen what happened in Bucha, the number has increased tenfold of people like me who want to join.

[01:25:03]

TAPPER: He wants to join the Ukrainian military he says and go to the frontlines.

SMALIYCHUK (through translator): I definitely want to go where I can avenge our children.

TAPPER: Upstairs, he began to show me the sniper rifle and ammunition he purchased. And as if we needed any more evidence of the threat the people of Ukraine find themselves under constantly the air raid siren went off while we were speaking. Oleg did not stop, and instead continued loading the bullets, ready to go to war for the children under the Ukrainian flag. And under the watchful eye of the Galitsky (ph) and Lions.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VAUSE: Well, still to come here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what's happened to my nephew, because nobody could get in touch with him. All those relatives in Mariupol. And my friends are all, you know, they're all refugees now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Relatives of Russian soldiers are speaking out. Their take on the war and their hunt for answers when we come back.

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[01:30:25]

VAUSE: Just gone half past the hour. Welcome back everybody.

The U.N. Human Rights Commissioner says the horrific images from Bucha Ukraine show all the signs that civilians were directly targeted and killed. Meantime, Ukrainian soldiers were out on the streets Tuesday collecting discarded weapons and unexploded ordnance.

Many of the bodies have already been collected now that Russian forces have withdrawn from those areas. Ukraine's president described what he saw and heard in Bucha earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They killed entire families, adults, and children, and they tried to bring the bodies. Civilians were crushed by tanks while sitting in their cars in the middle of the road, just for their pleasure. They cut off limbs, slashed their throats. Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: President Zelenskyy went on to say he wants those responsible for these atrocities to be brought before an international tribunal, like Nazis after World War II.

CNN's David McKenzie has more now on the massacre in Bucha. And again, a warning: his report contains some graphic content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The scattered aftermath of a Russian occupation in Bucha, a war with already so much horror, exposing new deaths and brutality, and possible war crimes.

"My husband had been shot in the head, mutilated and tortured," says this Tatyana (ph). He was buried a meter deep so that dogs wouldn't eat him. That was it.'

For weeks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been calling for justice. Those calls are growing louder.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You may remember, I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. We have to get all the details so this can be -- actually have a war crime trial.

MCKENZIE: Brutal actions of Russian forces in Ukraine are being investigated by international prosecutors. But Putin's faced these accusations before, In Chechnya, Russian forces leveled Grozny. In Syria, they bombed hospitals and schools with cluster munitions, say multiple reports. And no one in Russia was punished.

Russia like the U.S. isn't party to the treaty governing the International Criminal Court of The Hague, making it harder to prosecute. And investigations at the ICC can take years.

GORDON BROWN, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've got to send a message to all those in Putin's inner circle that they cannot act with impunity.

MCKENZIE: Speaking to CNN, former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown said that at the request of Ukrainian officials he is lobbying for a special tribunal.

Modeled on the Nuremberg trials of Nazi criminals and the tribunal investigating atrocities in the former Yugoslavia. Like the murder of thousands of men and boys in Srebrenica.

(on camera): How can you realistically get senior Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin into a courtroom?

BROWN: They said it was impossible in 1942 when the allies said that they were going to try Hitler and his accomplices for crimes -- what we called crimes against peace. But that happened in Nuremberg.

MCKENZIE (voice over): A tribunal creates a legal loophole to prosecute Putin and senior officials for the act of invading Ukraine itself. A crime of aggression with the right resources, Brown says an indictment could come in months.

Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes. And U.S. officials believe that Vladimir Putin wields near absolute power inside Russia so an indictment could be an empty threat.

BROWN: We have got to set the pace for saying that whenever Putin leaves a country, whenever he is accessible, he could be arrested. The only thing that he understands is strength.

MCKENZIE: For these atrocities in Bucha, and for Mariupol, for the crimes not yet revealed.

David McKenzie, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A lot more live from Ukraine at the top of the hour. But for now let's head back to CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church, Rosie.

[01:34:46]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John. And we will see you again at the top of the hour. Appreciate it.

Well, here in the United States, family members of Russian soldiers fighting in the invasion find themselves in a difficult situation. Many are against the war and they're having a hard time finding information on their loved ones.

CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke with family members hoping to make contact.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Suburban Virginia is a long way from the fighting in Ukraine, where evidence of war crimes by Russian forces is mounting. There is a particular kind of pain being felt these days here in the United States, by people like Marat -- Russian Americans who have relatives who are part of Russia's invading army.

MARAT, RELATED TO MEMBER OF RUSSIAN MILITARY: I didn't believe this at first, I was trapped (ph). I started calling my relatives to find out if this is true what's going on.

MARQUARDT: He had found a distant cousin's photos and ID in a chat about Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Marat's family confirmed that the cousin who we are not naming had been sent to Ukraine and is now back in Russia. But they told him little more.

(on camera): What do you know about his condition?

MARAT: He is in the hospital.

MARQUARDT: You say that some of your family members gave you signs not to contact him, what did they tell you?

MARAT: They told me that we will deal with this ourselves. Please do not get involved. We will deal with this within the circle of immediate relatives.

MARQUARDT (voice over): After arriving in the U.S. in 2008, Marat served for eight years in the U.S. army and became a citizen. He says he and his parents in Russia are fiercely anti war. Other relatives however are a different story.

(on camera): What does it feel like as a Russian American to be watching this conflict go on?

MARAT: I think we are all going through this. On one hand we have the relatives who cared for us, you know, and on the other hand the same relatives they support the invasion. It is something that is very hard to draw -- where do you draw the line?

For example, if your mother supports the invasion what do you do? I think to answer this question with your immediate relatives you have to work with them.

MARQUARDT: Hello is this Marat?

MARAT: Yes it is.

MARQUARDT (voice over): I first spoke with Marat when I was in Ukraine. He had called the Ukrainian hotline that offered to help Russian families track down Russian soldiers.

Anna from Brooklyn, New York whose identity we're protecting had also called looking for her cousin.

ANNA, RELATED TO MEMBER OF RUSSAIN MILITARY: Those soldiers that were sent to fight, it was not their decision. It was not something that they wanted to do.

MARQUARDT: Her cousin is so young, around 20 years old, that Anna calls him her nephew. He got married late last year. The family thinks he had been deployed for Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

ANNA: Now we don't have any contact with him, and we don't know what has happened. If he is still alive, if he is well, maybe he has been captured. We don't know.

MARQUARDT: Like Marat, Anna is treated with suspicion, kept at arm's length by her family in Russia because she is against the war.

ANNA: I believe that there is a war in Ukraine, and they just treat it as a military operation basically.

MARQUARDT (on camera): They believe that the Russian army is fighting against Nazis like Putin says?

ANNA: Yes, exactly. That is what they have been told. And they firmly believe it, and any other information that, you know, I try to give them they think it is fake information. You know, they just think that I am brainwashed.

MARQUARDT: What has this done to you as a person?

ANNA: I'm just heartbroken. I feel like I am very helpless. Yes. Because there's nothing I can, do or say, you know, to change their minds.

I'm afraid it has been already (ph) too late because so many people died.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Many of those people in the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where Anna and her family actually have Ukrainian cousins who she has no news from.

ANNA: I don't know what has happened to my nephew, because nobody can get in touch with them or those relatives in Mariupol. My friends are all, you know, they're all refugees now.

MARQUARDT: Anna told me she doesn't discuss the war with her mother, because if she brings that up, either her mother shuts her down or they argue. And that is because millions of Russians like Anna's mother are getting a fire hydrant of lies about the war in Ukraine from Russian state media.

And if it is not propaganda, it is the threat of punishment. Russians now potentially facing years in prison if they spread what the state calls, "fake information", a areal culture of fear taking root in Russia now.

Alex Marquardt, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Just ahead, Shanghai announces another round of citywide testing amid anger and frustration among residents over the lockdown.

After the break, I will speak with a journalist in the city about what conditions there are really like.

[01:39:54]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.

Well, authorities in Shanghai say the lockdown in the city will continue until further notice amid yet another round of citywide COVID testing. More than 17,000 new cases were reported in the city on Tuesday. And officials are building makeshift hospitals to hold thousands of newly- infected COVID patients. Authorities are also amending the policy for separating COVID positive children from their families. Parents who test negative can now apply for special permission to be with children who have tested positive.

Well, for more from Shanghai, I'm joined now by Don Weinland, "The Economist" China business and finance editor. Thank you so much for talking with us.

[01:44:56]

DON WEINLAND, BUSINESS AND FINANCE EDITOR, "THE ECONOMIST CHINA": My pleasure.

CHURCH: So I just want to share with our viewers a tweet that you posted on April 4th where you say, "Day four of who knows how many days of lockdown in Shanghai. My hotel has run out of water, they advise me to buy online, but these delivery services have stopped. And I'm in a hotel in a central area of the city. I can only imagine how terrible things have become in other areas."

So Don, two days after you tweeted that, what is the situation for you and others in your hotel? And how is it even possible that they have run out of water?

WEINLAND: So the hotel has been able to provide small amounts of water at this point. You don't drink the tap water usually in China. If things get desperate, you can turn on the tap and boil the water. But yes, it's a logistical breakdown of this city. And I think, as I said in the tweet, lots of people are facing similar problems.

CHURCH: And Shanghai authorities say that this lockdown will continue until further notice. And we understand that more testing is expected because of these new cases so what's going on? And how long might this lockdown last with what appears to be very limited supplies being made available to citizens? I mean food, water, and medicine?

WEINLAND: Yes, I would really like to know as well how long this will continue. I don't think really anybody right now knows. Most likely they will continue testing people. My wife and I took an at-home test earlier today and handed it over to the hotel.

But yes, I mean it's really anyone's guess. And as you noted, cases here continue to increase.

So until we hit a peak, and cases begin to go down, there's very little hope of them opening up.

CHURCH: Of course 17,000 new COVID cases were reported in Shanghai Wednesday. And now makeshift hospitals are being erected to take in new patients. What needs to be done, do you think, to contain this, if these extended lockdowns aren't working? And why has there been so little planning for food and water needs, do you think? WEINLAND: Yes. On the second question, in terms of planning, I mean

it's really something that everyone in the city is asking right now. I think the lockdown was implemented very hastily. And, you know, it's been a disappointment with how much access people have to food and water.

In terms of what they actually need to do to solve this, I mean China has been implementing these snap lockdowns in cities for quite a while now.

Omicron is much more difficult to handle, I think -- you know, going down their route of response, they will need to continue keeping people in their homes. They will need to separate people that have cases, and take them to quarantine facilities. It's really the only way to bring down the case number, I think.

CHURCH: It is extraordinary, 25 million people on lockdown, and 25 million having to be tested on a number of occasions in fact.

Don Weinland, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

WEINLAND: Thank you.

CHURCH: Do we call it a come back? Tiger Woods returns to golf more than a year after a horrific car accident. What he is saying about taking home another Masters title. We will have that, after the break.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.

Legendary golfer Tiger Woods is returning to the Masters tournament 14 months after a car crash that many thought would end his career.

Brian Todd explains how Woods got to this way and the challenges he will face on his return to Augusta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tiger Woods said that right after his horrific car accident almost 14 months ago, there was a chance one of his legs might have had to be amputated.

On Tuesday, he said the words many thought might never come, just ahead of golf's premier tournament, the Masters.

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: As of right now, I feel like I am going to play as of right now.

TODD: The 46-year-old is scheduled to tee off on Thursday morning when the Masters begins at Augusta National Golf Club. Just rumors of a Tiger comeback, when he played some practice rounds on Monday, drew a large crowd of fans now that he's playing competitively. CHRISTINA BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: The TV ratings should just go through the roof, probably Tiger (INAUDIBLE) as they always are. But this time, it is like we stepped into a movie set, you know,. This story is just -- it transcends golf, it transcends sports.

TODD: Police said Tiger Woods was driving 85 miles an hour in a 45- mile-an-hour zone when his car crashed on a winding road near L.A. on February 23rd of last year.

Law enforcement officers said there would've been a much different outcome had he not had certain safety features in his vehicle.

SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Thankfully, the interior was more or less intact which kind of gave him the cushion to survive what otherwise would have been a fatal crash.

DAN RAPAPORT, STAFF WRITER, GOLF DIGEST: His leg was basically crushed under the weight of an SUV. It looked life threatening initially, certainly career threatening. And he was in a hospital bed for three months.

TODD: After multiple surgeries and a rod, plates and screws placed in his leg and excruciating rehab, Tiger Woods now says it is not his swing that is the issue.

WOODS: I can hit it just fine. I do not have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint. It's now walking is the hard part.

TODDS: Analysts say the course at Augusta is one of the hardest to walk on the tour.

[01:54:52]

BRENNAN: You don't see the hills on TV. But I watched him walk up that first fairway in his practice run on Monday, as the throngs, the masses were following him like it was a Sunday afternoon.

I watched him walk up that hill and he looked older. His shoulders were hunched, and he was going much slower. Those hills are going to be brutal on him.

TODD: Still Woods said he would not be playing if he did not think he could win which would be his sixth Masters title and his 16th major tournament win.

Can he pull it off?

RAPAPORT: I do not expect him to win. But again, I am done -- I'm done doubting Tiger Woods. I have done it too many times and I've been forced to eat my words way too many times.

TODD: One of Tiger Woods' biggest motivations to play and one of the great joys of his life is playing with his 13-year-old son Charlie, who he has been playing practice rounds with in recent weeks. Dan Rapaport of "Golf Digest" says Charlie Woods has a perfect swing and, of course, a great coach. But he says it is too early to speculate if Charlie is headed for the pro tour. And he says Tiger Woods will not push his son to play professionally.

Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for being with us. I'll be back later next hour.

And our breaking news coverage continues with John Vause, live in Lviv Ukraine next.

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