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Police in Hazmat Suits Clash with Residents in Shanghai; Twitter Board Adopts Poison Pill Provision to Curb Musk Purchase; Former New York Governor Building Modular Homes for Ukrainian Refugees. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 16, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The journey out of Avdiivka was far from easy.

(On camera): She's saying that there was a lot of shelling this morning. It was terrifying.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: 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.

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

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 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 and makes me sad, and it makes me worried. It feels like we're going backward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

And it is a busy evening here on CNN. Currently we're following three breaking news stories right now including a dozen people who've been hurt after a shooting at a shopping mall in South Carolina.

Also in North Korea, North Korea claiming that it has just test-fired a new type of tactical-guided weapon. We're going to have more on that in just a moment.

But we're going to begin with breaking news on the war in Ukraine. Shipments of ammunition, artillery pieces, and aircraft from the Biden administration's latest security assistance package to Ukraine have just begun arriving. CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz is at the White House

tonight with the latest.

Arlette, what are you learning?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, a White House official told me a short while ago that the first shipment of those security assistance deliveries have started to arrive as the U.S. has committed that new rounds of $800 million worth of assistance for Ukraine.

Now a senior Defense official had previously said that these shipments would be sent into the region, and then the Ukrainians would be picking them up at the border and transferring them into Ukraine themselves. It's unclear whether that transfer has begun at this moment. And while officials have not provided a manifest of what this first shipment would include officials had expected that it would be some of the more required -- the items that the Ukrainians needed in the immediate future.

That includes those howitzer cannons, the ammunition, as well as radars that are capable of finding incoming fire and pinpointing their origin. In addition to that, there are other heavy-duty equipment items that are expected to head into Ukraine that includes helicopters, as well as more switchblade drones. This is much more sophisticated and heavy-duty weaponry than the U.S. had previously provided to Ukraine.

And there had been some concern earlier from Biden administration officials that this would signal a possible risk of escalation by sending this type of equipment in. But assessing what is happening on the ground there in Ukraine, especially as fighting is expected to pick up in the eastern part of the country, the U.S. decided to move forward with some of these requests for supplies that Ukraine had submitted.

Now at the same time, Russia has been protesting the U.S. sending military equipment into Ukraine. Sources have told CNN that Russia sent a diplomatic note to the State Department warning of, quote, "unpredictable consequences" if the U.S. continues to supply weaponry to Ukraine, raising questions about how exactly Russia might respond as more shipments go into the country.

So far the U.S. remains undeterred in trying to assist Ukraine as they continue to defend and fight off those Russian forces. But it's clear that with much of the fighting expected to pick up in the eastern part of the country, in the coming days, the U.S. is really adapting their strategy of the types of assistance that they're sending into the country -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Arlette Saenz, for us at the White House. Thanks so much for that.

As Russia inches closer to a major ground offensive, it's also ramping up attacks all across Ukraine. 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 there. Southeast of there, a CNN news crew witnessing a Russian strike on a market. One official says a hospital and an oil refinery are among the civilian infrastructure targeted, 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 is largely in ruins after weeks of relentless attacks. One regional official says if the Russians succeed, they'll 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.

[19:05:03]

The city of Mariupol has been wiped off the face of the earth by the Russian Federation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

And taking a look now at some other headlines from across Ukraine tonight. Absolutely 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 have been confirmed dead.

And one U.S. official telling CNN the newest package of military aid from the U.S. may not be enough if Russia launches a massive offensive as expected. That aid which is arriving as we speak in the region includes 40,000 artillery rounds. But the U.S. official says that might only last a few days.

Meantime, 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 eastern Ukraine. Ben, tell us what you're seeing there.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing is a constant intensification of the Russian bombardment on this area, the Donbas area, in the far east of the country. Today we were once again in the city of Severodonetsk which is right smack dab up against Russian lines, it's the easternmost city in Ukraine under government control. What we saw was shelling, lots of shelling on that area forcing the local residents to simply live 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 has 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 tried to keep their 7-month-old Artum (PH) distracted. Their recent arrival having fled their home 10 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'd 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 tutor her grandson Timor. A retired English teacher, she's been here for more than a month.

TAMARA, SEVERODONETSK, UKRAINE RESIDENT: A lot of people can't leave this place because of problems with health, and they don't have enough money to live in other places. And they have to stay here.

WEDEMAN: 73-year-old Vasili (PH) 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 north of here in the city of Kharkiv, a partner restaurant of the World Central Kitchen was hit by some artillery it's believed. Four of their people were injured, and this is what one of their chefs posted on Twitter.

And so basically this part of the country is bracing for this Russian offensive that everyone is talking about. We understand that in the eastern part of Ukraine, occupied by the Russians, they've increased their forces from 30,000 to 40,000 men. On social media from Russia we are seeing that they're moving more and more military hardware in this direction.

[19:10:05]

And of course from where I'm standing here in the city of Kramatorsk, we have been hearing all evening distant thuds of what we believe to be artillery fire -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that reporting.

And there are certainly a lot to break down today. So I want to bring in retired U.S. Army Major Mike Lyons. Major, great to have you on. Thanks so much for being here. This is

day 53 of the Russian invasion, and we know as Ben just laid out Russia has suffered some humiliating losses. Ukraine is seeing both civilian and military deaths, widespread devastation to its cities. In your opinion, are we closer to the beginning of the end of this war? Do you think that we're getting closer to the end at all?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Jessica, I'm afraid not. I think that it's going to take long time. I think we're at the beginning of a phase that's going to be an artillery war. An artillery is called King of Battle for a reason. As a former artillery officer myself. I think Russia is going to continue to pound away as they can at Ukraine targets. And so in order for the Ukraine military to be successful, they're going to have to defeat the Russian artillery. And that's going to be a challenge.

Now let's look at what this equipment that's come in now, the first round of equipment that's come in from the West. I hope it's Q36 radars, those are anti-battery, anti-artillery radar systems as well as those switch blades. Because that's going to help the Ukraine military defeat the Russian artillery that's on the ground. Every time a Russian artillery piece sends a round, it has a return address.

The important thing for right now is to get the Ukraine military to get that return address and get return fire on that. The rounds, for example, 40,000 artillery rounds, weighs 2,000 tons. The lift on that capacity is 10 or 15 or so, C-17s, it's a tremendous amount of weight and equipment that's coming that I think is going to lag a little bit. The important thing right now is to get that anti-artillery, anti- battery, things to kill artillery weapons in the theater as fast as possible.

DEAN: Right. And on that note, we know that the delivery is happening right now, that the first of it is making its way there. Do you think there's going to be time to get this -- these -- all of these different weaponry, all the ammunition, to get it to where it needs to go, get it into the hands of these Ukrainian fighters?

LYONS: I think they're prioritizing that. And the question is what comes in over land, what can they put on rail heads to try to make its way through a rail head to the front that way. Nothing's probably going to fly in. I think Russia will look to target that there, and I think Russia could potentially interdict the supply chain. So I think we've got to be very careful in how that material crosses the border and how it gets there and how it gets in the hands.

This is not going to be a Javelin fight anymore. The Javelin was more of a close in. What happened to that you saw in Kyiv and the cities and the like there. This is now an indirect fire-fight. It's going to be artillery battle similar to what we saw in the Second World War. And even the howitzers that we're going to get, those are towed howitzers. They're going to come in by trucks and other things.

The armored vehicles that Ukraine is asking for, that's big push. I'm not sure how they're going to get there on time. Four hundred miles from that border to where the battlefront is going to be. It takes a long time. It's a lot of material, a lot of gas, in order for them to get there.

DEAN: Sure. And the southern port city of Mariupol has been under siege since the early days of the war, and you look at the videos like we're showing right now, it's just unbelievable. One Ukrainian official saying if that city falls the Russians will be capturing rubble essentially. Are you surprised at all that the Russians are just pulverizing that city as opposed to more precision strikes? Or is that a strategic move to really just invoke absolute terror into the citizens there?

LYONS: Now I'm not surprised what Russia is doing. They're fighting this war like it's the early 20th century, late 19th century, the same tactics Stalin used in the Second World War. And that lack of creativity, and this is what they do. They terrorize the civilian population. They don't care. They just need that real estate. That's how they're looking at this. The Ukraine military has fought valiantly there. My heart goes out to them.

I wish there's more we could do in that location. But from a key terrain perspective, it's that important to Russia to have that port city and have that location. That's why they poured so many assets into it. They've paid for it dearly, though. They've had some significant losses. They lost the battleship obviously in the Black Sea. But again, it was likely inevitable and it's hard to say that that city was going to fall.

DEAN: Yes. All right, well, Major Mike Lyons, thank you so much for your insight, for giving us all that context. We sure do appreciate it.

LYONS: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: New tonight, North Korea says it has test-fired a new tactical- guided weapon with Kim Jong-un there to observe. The regime's state media saying that launch was a success and will improve the operation of tactical nuclear weapons.

CNN's Will Ripley is joining us by phone from Taiwan with more on this.

Will, what are you learning?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Jessica, the last few minutes we got some new information from the South Korean military saying that they actually detected two projectiles fired by North Korea Saturday night local time, that would be the morning hours there in the U.S.

[19:15:08]

This is -- it's consistent with what North Korean state media has now released just in the last couple of hours, which are images of this launch. Usually we don't hear about these in real time. We hear about them after the images have been approved and then they're released through North Korean propaganda channels including their state media. The images that North Korea showed us are of Kim Jong-un and his top

generals observing this launch. What South Korea says is that these missiles had an altitude of only about 25 kilometers. Traveled about 110 kilometers. Hitting a rocky target in the waters off of North Korea, traveling at a maximum speed of Mach four or lower.

This launch wasn't immediately announced by South Korea like they usually do. So that's why we first heard about it when the Guam Homeland Security put out a statement saying that this launch did not pose an immediate threat to the U.S. territory of Guam which is, of course, a major military target that North Korea has mentioned in the past. But this kind off tactical guided weapon either a short range or intermediate range weapon could theoretically hit U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, U.S. troops stationed in Japan or potentially even the U.S. territory of Guam depending on the range of this particular weapon, this new kind of weapon, as North Korea describes it.

What's most concerning, Jessica, is the fact that North Korea says this is going to bolster and enhance their nuclear capabilities on the ground which means that this type of weapon that we're seeing here could potentially, if North Korea's messaging is correct, if it's accurate, could carry a nuclear warhead to one of those targets, one of those U.S. military targets or other targets in the region. That's especially concerning given that there has been U.S. intelligence showing and satellite images verifying work at North Korea's nuclear test site of Punggye-ri, which has been dormant for several years.

It was shut down shortly before the diplomacy began with the former President Trump and Kim Jong-un. But now workers are back on that site apparently digging new tunnel entrances. I was there when these tunnel entrances were destroyed five years ago. But now they're rebuilding new tunnel entrances which could signal the U.S. said, a nuclear test by North Korea as they try to develop new kinds of warheads.

Perhaps many (INAUDIBLE) warheads that could fit on the type of weapon that North Korea has just tested. So obviously this rapid pace of weapons, that thing is a very troubling development for a lot of analysts. It seems as if right now given that the world is so distracted and focused on what's happening in Ukraine, Kim Jong-un is just ramping up these weapons tests at a really unprecedented pace, even more than what we saw during the fire and fury days. And he's doing it unabated at this stage. -- Jessica.

DEAN: Wow. All right. Will Ripley for us. Thanks so much.

And coming up this hour, CNN's David Culver, part of the only American TV crew living through the Shanghai COVID lockdown. He's going to report on his first few steps of freedom.

Also ahead, execs in the Twitter boardroom taking extreme measures to block Elon Musk's potential takeover.

And the women risking their freedom to challenge a wave of new anti- abortion laws.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PARKER, PRESIDENT, WOMEN'S VOICES OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: It makes me angry and it makes me sad and it makes me worried. It feels like we're going backwards. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:18]

DEAN: We are following 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 we do know three people have been detained.

Reporter Nick Neville from CNN affiliate WIS is outside the mall with more details on those injured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK NEVILLE, REPORTER, WIS-TV: Of those eight people, they've been transported to hospitals. Two of them are in critical condition but stable. And then there were two other people who were injured that did not have gunshot wounds but were just injured as part of a sort of a stampede as folks exited that mall. Skip Holbrook also telling us that they sort of did an initial sweep of the mall after this incident began, and they were trying to make sure that all the stores had locked down, had closed their doors, and made sure that everyone had exited this mall safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right. Nick Neville from WIS, thanks so much for that reporting.

Police believe the shooting was not random and that some type of fight happened before the gunfire. They're asking anyone with video of the shooting to contact them.

This week, four states advanced legislation to restrict abortion access, and groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood are gearing up for a legal fight.

CNN's Nadia Romero reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Using their voices and risking their freedoms.

CROWD: No justice, no peace.

ROMERO: Kate Danehy-Samitz and Sarah Parker lead Women's Voices of Southwest Florida, a nonprofit organized to defend reproductive freedoms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to speak out.

ROMERO: The group helped raise awareness when the Manatee County Board of Commissioners discussed the possibility of introducing an abortion ban.

PARKER: Well, I had to sit down and I cried. We had put so many hours and so much time in that. And we want something.

ROMERO: But their message was not loud enough to drown out the will of Florida's legislature and the governor.

PARKER: It makes me angry and it makes me sad and it makes me worried. It feels like we're going backwards.

ROMERO: This week Governor Ron DeSantis signing a 15-week abortion ban into law.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: There you go.

ROMERO: Without exemptions for rape, incest or human trafficking.

DESANTIS: This will represent the most significant protections for life that have been enacted in this state in a generation.

ROMERO: Two days before DeSantis, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill that makes performing an abortion a felony except in the case of a medical emergency.

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R), OKLAHOMA: We want Oklahoma to be the most pro- life state in the country. We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.

ROMERO: And also this week Kentucky's GOP-led legislature overwrote the governor's veto for a bill that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

[19:25:03]

So far 18 states have introduced legislation banning or limiting access to most abortion. 14 states have passed their restrictive legislation. Three states so far this year, Kentucky, Florida and Arizona, following a 2018 Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

ADRIENNE JONES, SPEAKER, MARYLAND HOUSE OF DELEGATES: Now let's go and sign these bills.

ROMERO: Now some Democratic controlled legislatures aim to protect the rights of Roe v. Wade with new bills of their own. Maryland lawmakers expanding access to abortion.

JONES: We are preparing for some of the most restrictive abortion actions that we've seen in a generation. ROMERO: In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer filing a lawsuit to

challenge the state's almost 100-year-old abortion ban even though it's not enforceable due to Roe v Wade.

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: We've got to take those current assaults on women's rights seriously and use every tool we have to fight back. This is not just a theoretical risk. This is a real and present danger.

ROMERO: With many states rewriting their abortion laws, all eyes point to the Supreme Court. The court heard arguments on the Mississippi law back in December. Legal experts argue a decision could be handed down in June right before summer break with pro-activists continuing their fight to the highest court in the land.

PARKER: Maybe they will come back and stand behind Roe versus Wade. I hope that they do and I want to believe so.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed another bill into law this past week. This one provides aid to mentorship and educational programs for fathers in Florida. It also comes with $70 million in funding for family and youth support services in the state -- Jessica.

DEAN: Nadia Romero, thanks so much.

Coming up next, a peek into the life in Shanghai right now. CNN's David Culver is part of the only American TV crew living through the COVID lockdown there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The extent of my freedom is all the way to here, the compound gate. Still double locked. It's been like that for about a month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:26]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Intense clashes breaking out in China this weekend over the country's newest and very strict COVID restrictions. Police in hazmat suits here clashing with frustrated residents in Shanghai. The city of more than 25 million people has now been under lockdown for weeks as the Chinese government cracks down on the worst COVID outbreak it has seen in years.

CNN's David Culver is in Shanghai documenting life there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A few steps of freedom granted to some Shanghai residents strolling their own neighborhoods as if taking in some strange new world --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But where are you going to go? There's nowhere to go.

CULVER (voice over): Most shops still closed and public transportation halted. Still, this woman can't hold back her joy recording as she and her neighbors roam the empty streets.

After forting 25 plus million people into two weeks of harsh lockdown, government officials facing mounting pressure, lifted some restrictions. For communities like mine without a positive case in the last seven days that meant we could actually step outside our apartments, my neighbors enjoying the taste of relative freedom, and so do our pets, eager to stretch their legs, still keeping within the confines of our compound.

The extent of my freedom is all the way to here, the compound gate, still double locked. It's been like that for about a month.

In recent weeks, we had to get community permission to leave our homes, mostly for COVID test of which there were many. We could also step outside to pick up the occasional government distribution.

CULVER (on camera): Today's delivery, a bag of rice.

CULVER (voice over): But even with heavy restrictions still in place, we had a good for now at least. The majority of this city remains at hard lockdown, kept to their homes, some hungry, and suffering.

This woman heard begging in the middle of the night pleading for fever medicine for her child, and this man -- recording his dwindling food supply. Then there were those who've tested positive, tens of thousands being sent to cramped government quarantine centers, whose residents have described a host of problems, facilities that were quickly and apparently poorly constructed.

Outside of Shanghai panic spreading quicker than the virus. The horror stories from China's financial hub have residents and other Chinese cities stocking up from Suzhou to Guangzhou.

Online, sales for prepackaged foods, surging. This, as China's National Health Commission warns of more cases, and publicly calls out Shanghai for not effectively containing the virus, shifting blame to local officials for allowing it to spread to other places.

China's strict zero COVID approach forcing dozens of cities into weeks' long full or partial lockdowns. Residents in Jilin banging on pots to protest. Most of the 24 million people in the northern Chinese province confined to their homes for more than a month now.

Back in Shanghai, the joys of freedom for some might last only a few hours, as it takes just one new case nearby to send them back inside, resetting the clock for their community, another 14-day sentence in lockdown, a seemingly endless cycle.

David Culver, CNN, Shanghai. (END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Wow. As Elon Musk's attempt at a Twitter takeover over? The company's Board is moving to make it harder for the world's richest man to buy the social media site. What this fight means for Twitter's future, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:39:37]

DEAN: Elon Musk's bid to take over Twitter has hit a bit of a snag. The Twitter Board adopting a limited term shareholder rights plan called a poison pill. This provision allows Twitter shareholders to acquire more shares of the company at a cheaper price, if Musk or any other investor owns more than 15 percent of the company's shares.

[19:40:02]

DEAN: Sarah Frier is joining me now. She is a technology reporter for Bloomberg News.

Sarah, it's great to see you. Help us understand how a poison pill would make it harder for Elon Musk to acquire Twitter.

SARAH FRIER, TECHNOLOGY REPORTER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: What it essentially does, it makes it really expensive to acquire shares beyond that 15 percent, and what that does is it allows the Board time to negotiate and to analyze the deal.

Trying to bring Elon Musk into the room to discuss what's next as opposed to just letting him buy shares on the open market. I think that they haven't closed the door to a potential deal, which I thought was really interesting. I thought maybe they would come out and say we're going to fight this. But no, they're willing to negotiate, and that means that Twitter is in play.

DEAN: Interesting. So it sounds yes, that is very interesting. It sounds like there could be a deal, still, but can Musk still afford to buy Twitter with the poison pill in place. He's a very wealthy man.

FRIER: He is the richest man in the world, but he doesn't have a lot of cash on hand. So he would have to either partner with other investors, get a loan, sell some of his Tesla stock, which could be tumultuous for Tesla. There are ways to do it, but even Elon Musk says he's not sure he'll be able to pull it off.

DEAN: Right. And so this really sounds like it's about -- like, to your point, this is more about time and the Twitter Board getting more time to kind of slow this thing down and kind of pump the brakes on it a little bit.

FRIER: Listen, Twitter could be sold, but they are in a position where they don't really have a lot of control over their future. Unlike a company like Facebook, unlike some other tech companies that you've heard of, there's not a founder with majority shareholder control here. So they're very much at the whims of activist investors like Elon Musk takeover bids, there isn't really somebody who can say no to that, and that means the Board needs to do something like a poison pill in order to give itself more power.

DEAN: And what do you think Twitter would look like with Elon Musk at the helm should that happen?

FRIER: Well, Elon Musk -- yes, Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist. He doesn't have a lot of past experience in social networks, but he is one of the most followed people on the platform. He has more than 80 million followers, and a tremendous amount of input. So he does understand Twitter, maybe more than some of the people on the Board.

But I think under Twitter, he would have a lot of issues with trying to figure out that content moderation question, which Twitter has struggled with for years, because even if you believe in free speech, there are some fundamental issues with social media speech with the elements of virality, the potential for harassment, for violent speech. And so, you know, he spoke at TED this week, publicly and he said he even doesn't know how he might solve these very thorny issues.

I think, he wants us to believe that it would be a platform that has less silencing of people when they speak out of turn. I think that those problems are ones that Twitter has tried to deal with for years.

DEAN: Yes, they're big, complicated issues.

Quickly, before I let you go. We know that Musk has had this really rocky relationship with Twitter, right? Like in 2018, he had to settle fraud charges with the S.E.C. over a tweet he sent about Tesla. He is being sued by other Twitter shareholders. How could he effectively lead a company and be allowed to purchase it if he has all of this baggage?

FRIER: Well, Elon Musk wants to take Twitter private. So, I think that that would be a big issue, too, is he wouldn't have this public scrutiny from the markets from those shareholders. And in Twitter employees, it might be difficult to retain them because tech employees are compensated by stock options, and so I think that that it would be -- it would be a rough road just as leading Twitter has been a rough road since its inception.

This company has been through a lot of tumultuous moments, change overs of CEOs, change overs of who is on the Board. So I think I just -- it would add to that history but it could be quite a fundamental change, very difficult for Musk to really fix a lot of these problems because these problems that Twitter has are problems with humanity as well. It's very difficult to change human nature.

DEAN: Yes, yes, it is. All right, Sarah Frier. Thanks so much for really illuminating that for us. We appreciate it.

And we continue to follow the breaking news out of North Korea tonight. South Korea's military says North Korea fired two projectiles tonight. We have much more head on that. Plus small homes with a big impact. The former Governor of New York

George Pataki is here to share how his organization is helping Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war, but first a live look for you here at the spectacular New York City skyline in partnership with CNN's Impact Your World, the Empire State Building is shining its tower lights in the colors of the Ukrainian flag every night through June 1st. So far, the impact campaign has raised more than seven and a half million dollars from more than 80,000 donors.

To find out how you too can help, go to cnn.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:02]

DEAN: Billions of dollars of aid for Ukraine have poured in from around the world including from the Pataki Leadership and Learning Center. It is a nonprofit founded by former New York Governor George Pataki, and it is building modular homes for Ukrainians displaced by the war.

Governor Pataki is with me now. So great to see you on this Saturday night. Tell us how many of these homes that you've sent to -- how many of them you've sent to Ukraine? And where are they going once they arrive?

GEORGE PATAKI, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: So far, we're working on building our 40th home. We have 20 that we put up in Western Ukraine and Zakarpattia Oblast, We have 10 that the Ukrainian government has taken and set up in Bucha, to actually show that they are building back there, and we're in the process of building 10 more in Ukraine right now, most of which will keep at this refugee center for the women and children who are sleeping on the floor of a closed factory.

But we need to do much more, Jessica, and that's the point. We're doing everything we can.

We build, maybe we're approaching 40 of these units, they need 400,000 of these units for the displaced people. So much more needs to be done and we need more than just the Pataki Center trying to fill this void.

DEAN: And so how do you see that working? How do you see this growing and being a part of a movement that gets these refugees what they need?

PATAKI: You know, what we're trying to do is inspire others come and do things as well. You hear about the five million plus refugees who have crossed into Poland, Hungary, and Romania and elsewhere, then I'm sure a lot of the Western aid is going to help and take care of those refugees.

But you don't hear so much about the seven million refugees in Ukraine who are internally displaced people, and they're mostly in western Ukraine and they don't -- they are almost all women with children. Their husbands are behind fighting. Their sons are behind fighting, and they don't have anything, just what they brought with them, they have nowhere to go.

So we have found in this one oblast, they have 500,000 refugees from the east, and they don't have the housing. So they're being put up in schools and hospitals and closed factories and warehouses and that's the void we're trying to fill.

And, you know, there are billions in relief, the U.S. government has promised billions of relief, the E.U. has promised billions of relief. But inside Ukraine itself, we haven't seen any Western assistance at all, except for what we're doing.

So what we're doing is we set up a center where we're building these, they come in modular form, from Hungary cross the border, then we've actually worked with the Ukrainian government. They've trained an engineering group to take them across Ukraine and put them up.

We want others to come look at what we're doing. We want those big Western charities who have billions or hundreds of millions to see what we're doing. As I said, you know, we've done maybe 40, you need 400,000. And we're happy to step aside and let those that have bigger resources, do what we can't do.

But in the meantime, Jessica, every one of these units we build is a woman, is a mother and her kids to have a place that is heated, has light, is comfortable, and is not a factory floor. And I can't tell you the smiles and the laughter you hear from the kids, when they finally have their own space, as small and sparse as it might be. So we're going to keep doing what we're doing.

DEAN: Right. We all just want a home, don't we? We want to want a place to lay our heads and feel safe.

I know you've been to Ukraine twice now. Why did you feel like you needed to go there? And what else did you notice? When you were there? What else did you see? Did you change anything once you've been on the ground?

PATAKI: You know, Jessica, I think most Americans look at Putin's invasion with absolute horror, and you think what can we do? And I didn't want to just send a check to some organization with no idea what might happen. So what I thought and others in the Pataki Leadership Center sought to think the same thing: Let's go look.

And we went up to the border of Hungary, and we saw how the refugees were being treated on the Hungarian side, very well taken care of -- medical care, housing, food, clothing -- what we wanted to see in Ukraine, and we went into Ukraine, and it's a very different story, because there just aren't the resources and there is a much greater need.

So we've talked with the Ukrainian government. The Ukrainian government actually suggested that we expand the housing side. We were doing medicine, we've sent in medicine, we sent in food, and we built these houses and they said the most important thing the void we have right now is this housing. So see if you can do more. So we're working with the Ukrainian government. There's not much we at

the Pataki Leadership Center can do ourselves. What we can do is inspire others to step in and help us and that's what we're trying to do.

DEAN: Right. Well good luck to you. I know you guys are working hard. Former New York Governor George Pataki and the Pataki Leadership Center, good luck with everything. Thanks so much for being on with us.

PATAKI: Thank you, Jessica, and if someone wants to help, patakileadershipcenter.com, we're going back over. We're building more of these houses. We're going to do everything we can to help.

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DEAN: Yes, all right. Well, thank you so much, Governor. Good to see you.

Up next, a scene of quote, "horrific brutality." A restaurant partnered with the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen targeted by missiles in Ukraine. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a big hit, as you can see. It is over a dozen cars burned out all around me. Pieces of cars and a tree here.

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