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Ukrainian Officials: Russians Increasingly Hostile In The South After Warship Sinking; Zelenskyy: Civilian Suffering Is A Great Pain For Me"; New Omicron Subvariants Spreading Across New York; Gridlock At U.S./Mexico Border Causing Supply Chain Issues; Mortgage Rates Hit Five Percent For First Time In Over A Decade; Gas Prices Drop After Skyrocketing Last Month; North Korea Claims It Test Fired New Tactical Guided Weapon. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 16, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:36]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. And NATO officials warned that a dramatic escalation by Russia in eastern Ukraine is coming.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Her journey out of Abdivka (ph) was far from easy.

She is saying that there was a lot of shelling this morning and it was terrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's more than two weeks since the Russians withdrew and the operation to account for all the bodies they left behind isn't finished.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's a tragedy. It's suffering. I won't be able to imagine the scale of suffering of these people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This week Governor Ron DeSantis signing a 15-week abortion ban into law without exemptions for rape, incest or human trafficking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes me angry. It makes me said and it makes me worried. It feels like we're going backwards.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the increase in costs and almost everything related to homes --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New floors, new baseboards, new doors --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This general contractor is now dealing with very different numbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plywood used to be, like, $20, $25. Now you pay almost $50.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in for Pamela Brown tonight and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Right now it's midnight in Kyiv and Ukraine is entering its 53rd day of war with Russia intensifying its attacks. In the east a cruise missile slammed into a residential neighborhood in the decimated city of Kharkiv. At least two civilians were killed, 18 injured. Southeast of there a CNN news crew witnessed a Russian strike on a market, one official says the hospital and an oil refinery are among the civilian infrastructure that was targeted there. And more than two dozen buildings are damaged or destroyed.

Russia has also escalated its shelling of the south, the port city of Mariupol where more than 100,000 civilians are trapped. It's largely in ruins, after weeks of relentless attacks. One regional official there says if Russians succeed they will only be capturing rubble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAVLO KYRYLENKO, DONETSK REGION, MILITARY ADMINISTRATION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): the enemy cannot seize Mariupol. The enemy may seize the land that Mariupol used to stand on, but the city of Mariupol is no more. The city of Mariupol has been wiped off the face of the earth by the Russian federation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Ukrainian officials say Russia's renewed siege on southern Ukraine is revenge for the sinking of a prized warship in the Black Sea.

And now let's take a look at some of the other headlines from Ukraine tonight. Some horrific news about innocent Ukrainians who have been killed.

Officials in the capital say the bodies of more than 900 civilians have been recovered since the Russians pulled back a few weeks ago. And across the country more than 200 children are now confirmed dead.

And the first delivery of new U.S. military aid is due to arrive in Ukraine this weekend. That's going to include 40,000 artillery rounds but with a massive Russian offensive possibly now only days away one U.S. official tells CNN it may only last a few days.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has responded to the sinking of its warship by becoming increasingly hostile in its attacks on the south.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in southeastern Ukraine. Ben, what are you seeing there?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. We spent the day in Severodonetsk again. It's the eastern most city in this country under Ukrainian control and a city very much right smackdab against the Russian lines.

What we saw today more intense shelling. Shelling on random sort of targets. Going into the city hitting markets, refineries and basically not necessarily targeting military targets. But I think the goal is really to demoralize and terrorize the population and perhaps prepare the ground for this much-anticipated Russian offensive.

[17:04:54]

WEDEMAN: We know that Russian forces are massing in that area also to the north and south of where we are. And as a result of the shelling on these towns so close to Russian lines, people are essentially forced to stay underground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice over): The shelling comes early and often. With Russian forces massing nearby this is a portent of things to come. Firefighters brave the threat of shelling but few others brave the streets of Severodonetsk.

Life for those who haven't fled is moved underground. To stuffy shelters where safety trumps comfort. Around 300 people call this temporary home on the grounds of a sprawling chemical plant.

Maxim and his wife Ira try to keep 7-month-old baby Artum distracted. They're recent arrivals having fled their home ten days ago. Maxim shows me cell phone pictures of the cellar they hid out in before coming here.

Disabled, Tatiana stays in bed most of the time. She would prefer to be at home, but what home? "There's no electricity, no cell phone signal, no water, no gas," she tells me. Everything is shaking from the bombing. The windows are shattered.

Tamara tutors her grandson Timur (ph), a retired English teacher, she's been here for more than a month.

TAMARA: A lot of people can't leave this place because of problems with health and they don't have enough money to leave and other places. They have to stay here.

WEDEMAN: 73-year-old Vasyli struggles to move about the shelter. He's not leaving town.

"I was born here and I'll stay here," he says.

Nearby, tanks at an oil refinery burn after a Russian strike. Not the first time it came under bombardment. The shelling here comes early and often.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And the shelling continues. We've been hearing all evening distant thuds to the north of here. It is believed that this city, Kramatorsk, is really right in the middle of what is anticipated to be a Russian pincer movement to try to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.

And it makes sense that if that is the case that is why they are firing artillery and rockets intensely just to the north of here, Jessica. DEAN: All right. Ben Wedeman reporting for us. Thank you so much.

Russian (SIC) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country is in a daily state of heartbreak over the needless death of civilians especially younger victims.

CNN's Jake Tapper sat down with him at the presidential office in Kyiv for an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I'm sure you have seen the video of the Ukrainian mom finding her son in a well and her sorrow, her crying is just devastating to hear. And you have seen a lot of videos like that.

What is it like for you as the president of this country to see those videos, to hear the crying of the moms?

ZELENSKYY: This is the scariest I've seen in my life in principle. I look at this, first of all, as a father. It hurts so, so much. It's a tragedy. It's suffering. I won't be able to imagine the scale of suffering of these people. Of this woman.

It is a family's tragedy, it's a disaster. The dreams and the life you just lost. We live for our kids, that's true. Kids are the best we were given by God and by family.

It is a great pain for me. I can't watch it as a father only because all you want after this is revenge and to kill. I have to watch as the president of the state where a lot of people have died and lost their loved ones. And there are millions of people who want to live. All of us want to fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:09:55]

DEAN: Don't miss Jake Tapper's exclusive interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". You can join Jake live from Lviv tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

And now I want to bring in Retired General Wesley Clark. He's the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander. General, great to see you. Thanks for making time for us today.

Russia is warning the U.S. that if it continues sending arms shipments to Ukraine, there could be quote, "unpredictable consequences". What is that implied threat? And what are you reading from that?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, of course, it's an implied threat. I mean we don't know what it means but it really -- it's something you take in stride.

Look, Russia has invaded a country. It's our legal right under the United Nations charter to assist a nation in its self-defense. So Russia has no grounds other than simply bullying and intimidation against the west.

This is an effort to influence the political systems in the United States and in other European countries and encourage the political systems then to reject so much assistance to Ukraine. That's all.

And if there's some attack on NATO, well Putin knows what would happen there. And meanwhile, the Russians are fully occupied and quite unable thus far to mount that big offensive in Donbas.

Now, maybe they will be able to mount it but all the reports I'm getting say that it's just been very, very tough to pull these units out of the northern part of the country, ship them to the east, find new replacement soldiers, give them ammunition and they don't want to fight, the Russian soldiers themselves.

So many of them know that this is a fruitless, dangerous, wasted effort by Russia. It's going to cause nothing but grief for everybody.

They don't see the cause of the war. They're not trained effectively. So Putin is resorting to artillery, bombing and threats.

DEAN: Right. And do you think -- all of the things you just laid out -- do you think that reaffirms that the weapons supplied by the U.S. and the west have been effective here?

CLARK: Well, it's been effective thus far. Now if he does get his big offensive rolling in Donbas, that requires a different set of armaments for Ukraine. That's mobile armored workers, so then you have tanks, armored fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, lots and lots and lots of munitions and some of that is coming in.

It's not all there yet. And so this is the stage of the battle where it's preparation versus counter preparation, reinforcement versus counter reinforcement and the question is can the west get the material there that Ukraine needs and be ready before Russia can reorganize its struggling and straggling armed forces to launch a big offensive.

DEAN: Right.

On Friday President Zelenskyy talked about the sinking of that Russian warship by two Ukrainian missiles. We'll listen to a quick clip from that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: We know that it does not exist anymore. For us it is a strong weapon against our country. So its sinking is not a tragedy for us. I want you, the rest of the people to realize that. The less weapons the Russian Federation that attacked our country has, the better for us, the less capable they are. This is important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So Russia is denying that missiles sunk the ship and they're insisting that a fire detonated ammunitions on board. That's what caused it to sink.

The U.S. is supporting Ukraine's account of what happened. General, how demoralizing is the sinking of the ship for Russian Military? I mean it's enough that they're having to tell their own version of the story.

CLARK: Right. Well, I think it's a fairly big deal. First it shows Ukraine's ability to use sophisticated weaponry. Second it shows Russia's naval vulnerability and lack of discipline to be able to do damage control on that ship. And, third, it does take away some capacity of the Russian Black Sea fleet to bombard Ukraine and potentially seize Odessa.

I think it's a real warning to the Russians, stay away from the sea. And the fact that the Russians are taking revenge on it sort of counteracts their propaganda story that it was an accident, doesn't it?

DEAN: Right.

CLARK: So they're having some problem with their information warfare.

DEAN: Yes, it is interesting to see at all play out.

General Wesley Clark thank you so much for your analysis, your expertise. It's always nice to see you.

CLARK: Thank you.

DEAN: We have some breaking news we want to talk about right now out of South Carolina. Police in Columbia saying a dozen people are injured after a shooting at a shopping mall.

Here is what we know right now. Police put out a tweet at 2:30 p.m. local time, saying they were responding to shots fired at Columbiana Central Mall that's about ten miles from downtown Columbia.

[17:14:57]

DEAN: About an hour later the Lexington County Sheriff's Department said it was setting up a reunification area nearby for anyone with loved ones who had been caught up in that incident.

Again, police saying there are no fatalities. Three people have been detained. We'll continue to keep our eye on that for you.

Still to come this hour, New York City on high alert for new COVID subvariants as the U.S. sees cases and hospitalizations tick up. Could mask mandates make a comeback? We're live in New York.

Then Vanessa Yurkevich is explaining how runaway prices are shaping the direction of the U.S. economy.

And astronaut Scott Kelly has a new mission: to help the people of Ukraine. We'll tell you how when he joins me live here in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:19:50]

DEAN: COVID-19 cases are on the rise once again here in the United States especially in the northeast. New highly infectious versions of omicron have sent cases surging.

In New York two omicron subvariants now account for more than 90 percent of all infections there. And health officials think they spread 25 percent faster than the previous Ba.2 subvariant.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is in New York. Polo, how are officials trying to combat this surge.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica that map that you just showed really says it all depending on where you are in the country, you're either seeing a slight uptick or you're seeing a major surge. And if we start in Philadelphia you will see that the surge that they're experiencing is enough for the city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate. The issue here is that what we expect on Monday is it will become the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate, basically moving to its second level of COVID response and restrictions requiring indoor masking starting on Monday at all indoor public spaces.

What does that include. Schools, businesses, restaurants, government buildings and certainly a move that's been met with a little bit of pushback obviously from the business owner community there.

But look, when you look at the rest of the country we are seeing a significant uptick throughout various parts of the country. but if you stay in the northeast and if you zoom in on New York state, that is also experiencing an extra fast increase there specifically in the central part of the state where average cases have nearly doubled in the last two weeks.

In fact two offshoots of Omicron Ba.2 virus likely to blame causing more than 90 percent of infections in central New York and in the Finger (ph) Lakes Region. It's unclear though if we'll ever see this overtake the Ba.2 variant in other parts of New York.

We should remember that at this point the daily reported cases not only in New York but throughout much of the country, it is still just a fraction of where we were at the height of the omicron surge but really what we heard from the state health commissioner in New York is a reminder that the variants they are not new but the tools to combat them also aren't new.

Of course, we're talking about getting fully vaccinated, getting boosted, testing if you've been exposed or you potentially have symptoms and if you potentially live in Philadelphia wear masks in indoor spaces.

And then there's also this as we see this increase throughout the country, many Americans may not actually have access to the government's so-called test to treat program which, you'll recall, was announced in March. It basically allows people with symptoms to get tested, get antiviral pills prescribed and fill those prescriptions in a single visit.

Now recently Kaiser Health News has discovered that there are large swaths, as you can see here on this map throughout the country that either have no test to treat pharmacies or health centers listed as of Thursday.

So you're talking about millions of Americans, they may potentially have to drive over 100 miles to try to be able to benefit off of this the program that was recently announced.

And here is the last issue that I'll mention, that lays out -- it's laid out in the KHN News reporting or rather on the KHN reporting, Jessica, the FDA requires that doctors, physicians assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses write those prescriptions. Pharmacists cannot do that. So that's leading a lot pharmacists to basically turn to the Biden administration and ask that the FDA revisit this restriction so that you could potentially see Americans, especially as you just saw on that map in rural areas have access to the test to treat program.

Because the reality is, Jessica we continue to see a significant increase in the number of cases. Then these kinds of programs that are meant to limit hospitalizations and deaths will certainly be crucial.

DEAN: They absolutely will and you're right. Huge swaths of the country are really far away from those centers.

All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it.

SANDOVAL: Thank you.

DEAN: A 30-hour charter bus ride from Texas to the U.S. Capitol. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent another group of migrants to Washington as a form of protest against the Biden administration's border policy.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Buses carrying migrants have started to arrive to Washington, D.C. from Texas. This is part of an action by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in rebuke of President Joe Biden's immigration and more recently the termination of a public health authority known as Title 42, that was an authority that was used on the U.S./Mexico border over the course of the pandemic to turn migrants away.

Now I spoke to migrants who arrived to Washington, D.C. they said that is it was a long journey of over 30 hours. They were provided food and water and that are now moving on to their next destination in the United States. These, of course, are migrants who have been processed by immigration authorities and are now allowed to be in the United States while they go through immigration proceedings.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement quote, "Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administration's failure to secure the border.

Now, of course, it is Texas taxpayers who are paying for these buses. And the White House and the Department of Homeland Security has reiterated that these are migrants that are allowed to be in the United States while they go through those proceedings. Tut this is all part of an ongoing feud between the Biden administration and Texas as the state digs in on immigration.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:25:02]

DEAN: Priscilla, thank you.

Rotting fruit, spoiled vegetables, decisions in Texas are making supply chain problems worse for all of us.

Plus we're going to dig inflation's impact from mortgage rates to gas prices. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: We are experiencing the highest inflation rates in more than 40 years. In March consumer prices soared by 8.5 percent over the previous year. And a logjam at the U.S./Mexican border isn't helping anything.

[17:30:00]

A new Texas policy requiring enhanced inspections gridlocked trucks and spoiled hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of produce they were carrying.

I want to bring in CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich.

Vanessa, Governor Abbott reversed that policy. What ramifications could we still see?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, this is the last thing the supply chain needed right now.

And you saw those pictures. We saw miles of delays of trucks. We saw spoiled food. And that means everything at the grocery store could possibly go up, things like strawberries, asparagus and peppers.

This all started about a week ago when Governor Abbott of Texas announced he was going to allow for his Department of Public Safety to check every single commercial truck coming from Mexico into the U.S. along the Texas border.

This caused those miles of delays. This caused Mexican truckers to go on strike.

And if you look at just one industry, in particular, the produce industry, they says they've lost about $240 million in sales because of this eight-day enhanced check.

The governor says that he was doing this in response to President Biden noting he was going to repeal Title 42. The governor said that he was doing this to check for human smuggling and drugs.

But, Jessica, really what this did, at the end of the day, was cause massive trade disruptions. And it's going to take several weeks now for these supply chains to catch up -- Jessica?

DEAN: And to kind of unwind all of that.

Let's talk mortgage rates. They hit 5 percent for the first time in over a decade. How is that going to impact those looking to become homeowners? It's a really hot real estate market right now.

YURKEVICH: It's going to make it a lot more expensive for homeowners.

Over the last year or so, even last summer, we were seeing mortgage rates below 2 percent. That was incredibly attractive for potential home buyers to go out and buy a home.

But after the Federal Reserve announced they were going to start raising interest rates, we started to see the mortgage rates tick up. And now they're at 5 percent. That's highest in a decade.

And what that is doing is discouraging people from buying homes. But that's actually exactly what the Federal Reserve is trying to do, trying to get people to stop spending so much to cool down this inflation.

We know the Federal Reserve will increase federal rates several times this year. That means interest rates could rise more.

That's a difference right now, from a year ago, about another $300 or so on your mortgage for first-time home buyers, especially. Jessica, that could make the difference between buying a home and not.

DEAN: Absolutely.

And before you go, good news here, gas prices going down. Can we expect that trend to continue?

YURKEVICH: In the short term? Potentially, yes, in the short term, because we know that China -- a lot of China is under lockdown. They're not using as much oil and fuel.

Here in the U.S., people may be concerned about rising COVID cases. They may be cutting back on traveling. We know the president has taken the unprecedented step of releasing

one million barrels of oil from our strategic reserve. That certainly is bringing down prices. You can see it dropping by several cents in the last week.

But, Jessica, we are watching oil prices start to tick up again. Remember, gas prices do lag oil prices.

So in the short term, good news. But we have to keep an eye on those oil prices to see where those put gas prices in the coming weeks -- Jessica?

DEAN: Yes. Good context.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

DEAN: Some breaking news now. North Korea has just reportedly test fired a new tactical guided weapon. We'll have move more on that in just a moment.

[17:33:45]

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:38:21]

DEAN: This just into the CNN NEWSROOM. North Korea has test fired a new tactical guided weapon. That's according to state media there. State media also saying leader, Kim Jong-Un, was on hand to observe.

North Korea saying that launch was successful and will improve the firepower of long-range artillery units and the operation of tactical nuclear weapons.

We want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley. He's joining us by phone from Taipei, Taiwan.

Will, tell us first what do you know about all of this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): What we have right now, Jessica, is no assessment as of yet from the United States or South Korea. Just these images North Korean propaganda released a short time ago, just within the last 30 minutes or so.

And the images show Kim Jong-Un, along with his top-ranking military officials, at this launch of what North Korea describes as a new type of tactical guided weapon.

And then it shows this small missile launching and then hitting some sort of a rocky target somewhere in the water off of North Korea. A tactical guided weapon is not an intercontinental ballistic missile,

like the kind we saw launch in recent weeks. It is either a short- range or intermediate-range missile.

The kind of missile that could potentially strike U.S. troops stationed in South Korea or potentially strike U.S. troops stationed in Japan or potentially even the U.S. territory of Guam.

In fact, it as Guam's Homeland Security that first put out a statement about this even before North Korean state media, saying they determined there was no immediate threat from the North Korean missile launch.

But obviously, this is another provocation on a year that North Korea has really launched more missiles than we've seen in the pace of launches, really an unprecedented pace of weapons testing, including weapons of mass destruction.

[17:40:08]

Because North Korea said, Jessica, in their propaganda article today this is to strengthen the country's tactical nuclear operation. That is essentially a hint from North Korea this kind of intermediate-

range guided weapon could be nuclear capable. Meaning it could carry a nuclear warhead.

This, of course, raises questions about, will North Korea be conducting another nuclear test, given there's been work under way at their test site that had been shut down for several years during the diplomacy with former President Trump.

It now seems crews are back there, in operation, getting that site ready for some sort of a test. Could they be trying to test a smaller warhead, the kind of warhead that could fit on a missile like this?

That is certainly the question military analysts will be asking themselves as they assess all intelligence about the missile launch -- Jessica?

DEAN: And talk to us about the timing of this. What is the significance of the timing of this?

RIPLEY: Well, we, just a couple days ago, had the most important holiday on the North Korean calendar. April 15th is the Day of the Sun. Celebrates the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il-Sung, who ruled for nearly half a century.

That holiday is marked by huge celebrations across North Korea. And on certain milestone holidays, they tend to do things like a missile launch, a provocative event, to have a propaganda win on the home front domestically and send a message to the international community.

This year happens to be the 110th anniversary of Kim Il-Sung's birthday.

So could this test be some sort of not only a weapons test but also to announce to the North Koreans that their dictator, Kim Jong-Un, remains strong, remains powerful, and remains firmly standing up against their arch enemy the United States?

Certainly, there's a propaganda benefit due to the timing as well.

DEAN: Right.

If you're just tuning in, again, breaking news right now. North Korea claiming it has test fired a new tactical guided weapon. We were just hearing from our senior international correspondent, Will Ripley.

Thank you so much for laying that all out for us, Will. We'll continue to be in touch with you and come back to you in a little bit. Thanks so much.

Retired astronaut and ISS commander, Scott Kelly, is selling mementos from his time in space to help Ukrainians who are fleeing the war. Kelly is auctioning off both real and digital content to help raise money for refugees. And he's going to join me live to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:55]

DEAN: A former NASA astronaut who spent more than a year in space is now working to raise a half million dollars to support war victims from Ukraine by selling mementos from his time in space.

Scott Kelly has already auctioned off a cap, gloves and a jacket he wore in space. Additionally, he's auctioning off digital pictures that have been turned into NFTs.

NFTs are short for nonfungible tokens, digital content like works of art, pictures and other collectibles that are made into one-of-a-kind verifiable assets that are easy to trade on the block chain.

The block chain is the digital database behind cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. NFTs are unique and no two are alike, which is what makes them so special.

Scott Kelly joining me now.

It's great to see you. Thanks so much for being with us.

Your new book, "Ready for Launch, An Astronaut's Lessons for Success on Earth" came out Tuesday, and I do want to talk about that in just a moment.

But let's start first talking about what you're doing for these Ukrainian refugees. What made you want to do this?

SCOTT KELLY, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT & FORMER ISS COMMANDER: Well, this issue is very personal to me, Jessica. I have Ukrainian family members. I have a brother-in-law who came to the United States as a teenager.

His kids, my niece and nephew are Ukrainian Americans. I have Ukrainian friends.

And so this is a personal issue to me. And I felt like anything I could do to help I was going to try.

DEAN: And it's so interesting. Obviously, you're auctioning off items, but I think it's so fascinating you're also doing NFTs. What made you decide to use those as well?

KELLY: Well, I've been interested in the crypto world and the block chain and the interesting things it can do. So I felt like this was an opportunity to raise some money with an auction of over 3,333 unique, as you mentioned, NFTs.

And the auction or the sale was on Friday. And the auction was on Friday as well. Actually, the sale was a couple days before.

But we sold out all the NFTs within a few hours. And the auction was complete yesterday. And we raised right around half a million dollars.

DEAN: That's incredible. Congratulations. I know that money will go to good use.

I want to talk to you about your new book. In your book, you explain how you went from a distracted student with poor grades to the commander of the International Space Station.

Which I think, people look at you and your career and think, nope, no way was he ever a bad student. That's impossible.

How did your mistakes and challenges lead to you a career that took you into space for almost a year?

KELLY: Yes, so I was a very distracted kid. I was not -- I wanted to do well but I just couldn't. It wasn't until I was in high school that I discovered a book that was critical to my success. And it was Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff."

And it showed me a path and inspired me that I could do more if I could just become a better student.

So you know, much of what I do today, whether it's motivational speaking or writing, I want to inspire kids like I was inspired by Tom Wolf.

[17:50:02]

So I wrote this small little graduation book. It's a small book with a lot of big lessons. Lessons about not being scared. Although it's a normal emotion. But also not fearing failure, being willing to take risks, being willing to make mistakes.

Things like that, that will hopefully help some young people on a path to success. DEAN: I am sure it will. Those are incredibly important lessons. I

think we're alle trying to learn as we go through life.

I know you talked to your fellow astronaut, Mark Van De Hei, when he broke your record for the most consecutive days in space for an American. What did you say to him?

KELLY: I think I tweeted at him. I didn't actually talk to him on space to ground or anything. Just congratulations.

A year is a long time. I know it is. It's not easy. It's actually hard to do. That's actually what makes it a great thing, though, is that it's really, really hard.

I just congratulated him and let him know that we were all proud of him.

DEAN: Yes. That's so great.

I do want to talk to you a little bit about your thoughts about the contingents between United States and Russia right now.

Speaking of Twitter, I know you had a back-and-forth with the head of the Russian space program. And obviously, as someone who's worked with Russians in space.

How are you able to keep politics off the International Space Station? And how are those relationships maybe different than when you get back here to earth?

KELLY: It's easy to do in space. Because you realize you are no longer on earth. You have priorities there. Those priorities are supporting your crew members and their work, your teammates. The emotional support you have for one another.

But also relying on each other, literally relying on each other for our lives. So it seems like earthly politics is not the most important things when are you in space.

Having said that, I am sure, at some point, if we got to it, that would affect relations on board. But I don't think we are there yet with the crew members.

And I do know the people at NASA and the people that work at Roscosmos, at least most of them, the good ones I know, want to make this partnership work.

DEAN: With groups like SpaceX, Blue Origin making starts to get more people into space, what do you think are the chances we see maybe you go up in a commercial rocket any time soon or any of your fellow astronauts?

SCOTT: Well, I would go. No one has called me yet. It would be great to go on Blue Origin. I think that looks like probably one of the greatest rides you can have, because it doesn't take a lot of training, over pretty quick. You can talk about it later that night at -- you know, meeting back

with your friends and family.

But I think it's great. I think it's -- we're at the early days of commercial aviation, where commercial aviation was, where it's really expensive, it's risky.

But someday, those costs will go down, the safety will go up. And it will be something we can all hopefully one day experience.

DEAN: We know, Blue Origin, Scott Kelly says he wants to go up. We got that on the record.

Well, thank you so much. Good luck with your book. And an incredible job there raising money for those Ukrainians.

Thank you so much for being with us.

KELLY: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: You can go to CNN.com/impact to help Ukrainians in need. You will find more than 40 vetted charities distributing aid. So far, our campaign has raised more than $7.5 million. So thank you in advance for your help there.

We continue to follow this breaking news. At least 12 people hurt in a shooting inside a Columbia, South Carolina, shopping mall. Police now say three people have been detained. Stay with CNN for the very latest there.

[17:53:49]

Plus, their homelands are on either side of the war but this couple will not let the fighting stop them from tying the knot thousands of miles away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:58:41]

DEAN: Love triumphed over war Wednesday when a Russian man and Ukrainian woman got married in Tijuana, Mexico. The pair originally planned to marry in Ukraine until the Russian invasion forced them from their homelands.

Listen to what the groom had to say about their unexpected plans?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEMEN BOBROVSKI, GROOM FROM RUSSIA: Well, we had never thought about this and, like - we never thought about us getting married in another country. Mostly because we were planning it and we were planning it in Ukraine.

But things happened like they happened. We didn't expect the war to come. No one expected that. Because of this -- I mean, we're lucky and we are really grateful to

be here at this moment, to the people who are surrounding us right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The couple married at Tijuana city hall and are seeking asylum in Mexico. They are hoping to begin their married life in the United States. Best wishes to them.

Your next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

[17:59:49]

And we are following some breaking news out of South Carolina. Right now, police in Columbia say a dozen people are injured after a shooting at a shopping mall. So far, no reported fatalities. But two people are in critical condition at a local hospital

And three persons of interest have been detained by police.