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Explosions On The Outskirts Of Kyiv; Ukraine Claims Downed Cruise Missiles Fired At Lviv; Ukraine: Body Count Near Kyiv Nearly 1,000; Mykolaiv Governor: At Least Five Killed By Cluster Munitions; Russia's War Worsening Food Shortages; Ukrainian Academy In Ohio Talks About War With Kids; U.S. Confirms Moskva Sunk By Ukrainian Missiles; Drumbeat Of War Echoes Through Good Friday Services; Humans To Blame For Excess Rain In 2020 Hurricane Season. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 16, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world.
I'm Kim Brunhuber and let's get straight to our breaking news. It's 11:00 am in Ukraine and there are reports this morning about explosions on outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.
The mayor has said the city has come under fire and rescuers are on the scene.
To the west in Lviv, officials say four Russian cruise missiles were shot down. So far, there are no reports of casualties. We'll bring you more as we get it.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian authorities are reporting a dramatic increase in Russian shelling along Ukraine's eastern and southern fronts. The governor of Mykolaiv said the Russians hit the city with cluster munitions. At least five people were killed and more than a dozen injured.
This map shows where the Russian military is expected to renew an offensive, possibly in days. But Ukrainian military officials claim recent Russian attempts to break through defenses have been repelled.
Also on Friday, confirmation from U.S. officials that the guided missile cruiser Moskva was sunk by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles. Moscow claims the flagship of the Black Sea fleet sank while being towed to port after an onboard fire set off munitions and still no word of the fate of the nearly 500 crew on board.
Moscow isn't too happy about the $800 million military aid package the U.S. just sent to Ukraine. Two sources tell CNN Russia sent a diplomatic message, warning of consequences should that support continue. Here's why they're angry.
This latest package includes more heavy-duty weaponry than previous aid, including MI-17 helicopters, small drones called Switchblades or kamikaze killer drones, that can target Russian soldiers and armored vehicles and, for the first time, Howitzers.
With Russia's war losses mounting, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning Russia may resort to tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine. He spoke exclusively with CNN's Jake Tapper.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: I think we all over the world, all the countries, have to be worried because you know that it can be not real information.
But it can be the truth because, when they began to speak about one or another battles or involving the enemies or nuclear weapons or some chemical issues, chemical weapons, they should do -- they could do it. They can. For them, life of people is nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Zelenskyy's warning follows a similar concern by America's CIA director. But U.S. officials say they see no evidence so far the Kremlin is preparing to use short range tactical nuclear weapons.
Let's begin our coverage with Matt Rivers in Lviv.
So, Matt, we're learning more about the attack in Lviv where you are.
What's the latest there?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've had air raid sirens across the country overnight into Saturday morning, Kim.
So let's start here in Lviv, where the region's military -- the regional military administrator says anti-aircraft systems here in Ukraine managed to shoot down four cruise missiles that were headed somewhere in the Lviv region.
Now we don't know exactly where those missiles were being sent to. Ukrainian officials didn't give us that specific information. But they did say they managed to shoot down four cruise missiles headed to this region.
They say those missiles were launched by Russian aircraft that had actually taken off from an airfield in neighboring Belarus. So that caused air raid sirens to go off around 5:45 local time in Lviv, with that warning continuing just after 7:00 am local time.
Air raid sirens do go off from time to time here in Lviv. We've heard them multiple times over the past several days. However, this time we got specific information from Ukrainians about why that air raid siren went off. Now we're not the only region experiencing strikes. In fact, a cruise
missile did manage to strike in Kyiv, in a southeastern district of Kyiv.
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RIVERS: This happened, according to the city's mayor, overnight, saying there are still medics on scene, they're still trying to get casualty information. But this is a cruise missile that struck southeastern Kyiv. So these kinds of attacks continue to happen across Ukraine at this point.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Matt. Earlier I spoke about the U.S. military aid that's making its way to Ukraine, which Russians have been so angry about. Ukraine says the clock is ticking because they need those weapons to repel Russian forces.
What are we learning of that assault?
RIVERS: Well, what we are learning is that, over the past couple of days, some of the Russian forces that first withdrew from northern Ukraine from the Kyiv region after their failed offensive to take the capital. They managed to shift east and go into Donbas, where we're expecting a renewed Russian offensive to begin, if not in weeks then days from now.
We are hearing from U.S. Defense officials that the troops they have seen start to amass there and move into that region, we are not talking about tons of troops but support troops -- artillery units, command and control units, units that could support an aggressive troop build-up that we expect and would then launch a more aggressive offensive campaign.
But the fact that these troops are moving into that area is yet another sign, as we move forward into the next phase of the campaign, it is going to be centered on what is happening in the eastern part of the country.
BRUNHUBER: All right, appreciate it, Matt Rivers, in Lviv, thank you very much.
The retreat of Russian forces around Kyiv is allowing Ukrainian authorities to finally see the full scope of Russia's brutal occupation.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Ukraine's national police report more than 900 bodies have been recovered in areas surrounding the capital. Some shows signs of torture before they were shot. Besides discovering mass graves and bodies dumped down wells, there are unknown number of victims buried beneath tons of rubble left by Russian shelling.
The extent of civilian casualties across the country may not be known for many weeks, if ever.
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BRUNHUBER: So with us from Kyiv is Oleksiy Sorokin, the political editor and chief operating officer at "The Kyiv Independent."
Thank you so much for being with us. We are still coming to terms with the deaths and horrors left behind after the Russian troops left, the bodies, and victims sometimes seemingly tortured. And not too far from where you are, the scale here is just shocking. Tell us about what your reporters are learning there.
OLEKSIY SOROKIN, POLITICAL EDITOR AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, "THE KYIV INDEPENDENT": Yes, everyday new bodies are discovered. And Ukrainian officials state emergency service are going village by village. And practically in every urban area, where Russians were stationed, there were people who had signs of torture.
We have been to, Borodyanka, Bucha and Irpin and many other cities. Everywhere there is tragedies and people who say their family members are either under the rubble after Russian airstrikes or missing after they went to buy bread, to collect water.
I think this month and the month ahead, we'll be finding more and more bodies and the scale of these atrocities will only pile up.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, sadly, imagine that is all too true.
So if war crimes are officially confirmed, do you think anyone, much less Vladimir Putin, will be held accountable?
SOROKIN: Obviously until Putin is empowered and until Russia is under this dictatorship, we are not thinking that people will be held accountable. We hope there is going to be an international court, there is going to be international process, where everybody and every soldier who committed war crime in Ukraine will be known.
His name and address, he'll be held accountable. But unfortunately, we understand that, until this regime is still controlling Russia, there is no chances of him ending up behind bars.
BRUNHUBER: How concerned are you, if Russia does fully take Mariupol, for instance, that we could see similar atrocities perpetrated or maybe even worse?
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SOROKIN: Unfortunately, we know the scale of atrocities in Mariupol is not even in comparison to Kyiv oblast. There are people buried in back yards, streets turned into cemeteries.
And only, according to official information, which is obviously lower than the actual information, the Donetsk oblast governor says 20,000 people were killed. And he also says that 95 percent of all buildings are either damaged or destroyed.
And I don't even want to imagine the scale of death and destruction that Mariupol witnessed. But we will have to deal with this sooner or later. And Mariupol will be the case that will probably be the loudest and that will maybe even tip the international community into supporting and prosecuting war crimes. It's just simply -- I can't even --
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BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's hard to find the words, really, I can imagine. So let's turn to the capital itself. Where you are, even though the fighting has largely shifted to the east and the south of the country, I mean there was an attack there in Kyiv this morning.
What's the latest there?
SOROKIN: Well, yes. After a couple weeks of peaceful -- of peace in the capital, we saw several missile strikes. Yesterday, one of the factories that produce the Neptune missiles was hit in Western Kyiv.
Overnight today, we know, in the eastern part of the Kyiv region, in Kyiv as well a factory, a military facility was also hit. But we still don't know the extent of casualties. Ukraine doesn't report casualties right away.
But we know that, unfortunately, Russia is successfully targeting military facilities in Kyiv and basically showing that they have the reach to target any facility, any building in Ukraine, wherever it is.
BRUNHUBER: Finally, you know, I understand sort of life is coming back slowly to Kyiv. I know some, you know, diplomatic officials are coming back.
Do you feel that, at least where you are specifically, the worst may be over?
Or are you worried that Russians may again try to take the capital?
SOROKIN: I think they will. Obviously right now everything depends on what happens in Donbas, where Russia is concentrating most of its troops. But, yes, there's this, I would say, a sense of normality in Kyiv, when people are returning, when some bars, cafes, pharmacies are opening. You see more cars in the streets.
But you still understand we're in a war zone. There's military checkpoints. There's roadblocks. And every night for the past several days, we hear that a missile struck something in Kyiv. So there's this sense that it's definitely better than it was.
But everybody knows we're in a war zone and everybody expects Russia, at some point, will definitely try to take Kyiv again.
As the mayor of Chernihiv told us when we were there, they're not prepared to rebuild the city. They're not prepared to provide additional housing because they expect that Russia will, at some point, maybe in the next couple of weeks, try to attack the city again.
So that's the sense many Ukrainian cities have. Yes, right now it's peaceful than it was a few weeks back. But obviously we expect Russia will not stop. And until Putin is in power, Ukraine and every Ukrainian city will obviously feel danger.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Listen, we wish you and all the reporters out there working, I hope you stay safe and well. Oleksiy Sorokin, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
SOROKIN: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Over the past 24 hours, the city of Mykolaiv appears to have been the target of multiple Russian attacks. Local officials say Russian artillery fired cluster munitions into residential areas, killing at least five people and wounding dozens of others. CNN's Ed Lavandera is there.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cluster of explosions jolted this residential neighborhood in Mykolaiv Friday morning.
Witnesses say some people were walking their dogs in a park at the time. One of the munitions struck just feet away from an orthodox church.
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LAVANDERA: You can see the impact spot of one of the munitions that went off this morning. As you look around here, you can see the impact and the damage done to this church here as well.
Multiple people were killed and more than a dozen others injured. Paramedics treated victims on the scene.
Across the street, under the shattered windows of an apartment building, this man told us, he help drag two injured people into a store for safety.
YURI ZAYTSEV, MYKOLAIV RESIDENT (through translator): The noise. The noise of a rocket flying and explosions, that's what I saw and heard when I was in the shop. People ran into the store and I saw people scared. I saw people dropping to the ground from explosions.
LAVANDERA: The sounds of explosions inside the city started around mid- morning and appeared to strike at least three different locations.
Mykolaiv authorities released this video of a private home burning after a rocket strike.
Mykolaiv strikes come as residents in southern Ukraine are worried about Russian retaliation for the sinking of the Moskva warship in the Black Sea and Russia's renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In recent days, CNN has witnessed long convoys of families fleeing Russian- occupied areas near Mykolaiv. This bombing struck a densely populated area.
Galina Mironchuk says she was brushing her hair when the bomb landed just outside her apartment window. The blast shattered the glass and shattered her sense of peace.
Did you think something was going to happen to you?
I didn't think of anything, she tells me. I thought that was the end of the world.
The recent attacks have also crippled parts of the city's infrastructure. The water has been out for three days, forcing hundreds of people to get water from a river and natural spring. This man evacuated his mother and plans to stay in the city to fight off the Russians.
How worried are you that the Russians are getting closer?
It worries me a lot, he tells me. That's why I sent my mother away. That's why we are getting ready. We are still working. But if the Russians are close, I will fight them.
For now, residents are left to clean up the bloody aftermath and brace for the next attack -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian Academy in the U.S. is trying to teach its youngest students about the war. Coming up, we'll hear from the Ukrainian American children. That's ahead.
And the global ramifications of the war in Ukraine, we'll get why there's calls for urgent action when it comes to food security worldwide. Stay with us.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We got out because shelling went through our house. We were traumatized, trying to save ourselves and our children; grateful to this center for helping us and welcoming us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It was hard to leave. We lived in a flat where windows got broken; doors, too. We moved to my friend's for a month. But they turned off her gas and water. There was one question: how to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Those are just some of the many accounts told by refugees as they're fleeing the fighting in Ukraine. The U.N. says more than 4.7 million people have escaped the country, another 7 million more are internally displaced.
The increase in Russian attacks is making it difficult for civilians to leave the wartorn areas. According to the Ukrainian government, nine humanitarian corridors were opened on Friday and more than 2,800 were evacuated.
And there are warnings that millions around the world could soon be pushed into poverty because of soaring food prices, brought on by the war in Ukraine. Global food prices jumped to their highest levels ever last month, according to the U.N.
The World Food Programme says both Ukraine and Russia, responsible for nearly 30 percent of the world's wheat trade. Now this comes on top of the pandemic and global supply chain issues.
Policymakers say the threat is highest for poor countries that rely heavily on imports. Now earlier, my colleague, John Vause, spoke with David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme. And he says a global food crisis is likely to be a long-term one. Here they are.
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DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WFP: Yes. Everybody talks about the unpredictability of what will happen in Ukraine with the military offensive. I can tell what you what is predictable, we're going to have a very serious global food crisis over the next 12 months.
Ukraine and Russia alone produce 30 percent of the world's wheat, 20 percent of the world's corn, 75-80 percent of cooking oil, like sunflower cooking oil; 50 percent of the wheat we buy, of the grains that we buy to feed 125 million people around the world, comes from inside Ukraine alone.
In Ukraine, the farmers inside this nation, who are now on the battlefronts, not in the fields, produce enough food to feed 400 million people. So when you compound that with fuel prices going up, commodity prices going up, shipping prices going up, you can see an immediate crisis and a long-term crisis.
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BRUNHUBER: Find out how you can help people in Ukraine who may need food, shelter, water, please go to cnn.com/impact. And just to let you know, our CNN audience has already donated more than $7.5 million. More help, of course, is desperately needed.
Well, New York's Empire State building is shining its tower lights in the colors of the Ukrainian flag for 15 minutes every night until June 1st.
An after-school program in the United States is helping Ukrainian American children understand the war in their native country. Gary Tuchman visits, to hear what the kids think about the invasion of their homeland.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's called the Ukrainian Academy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good afternoon, everyone. So today we are going to speak about war and peace.
TUCHMAN: In the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights in Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you raise your hand if you have grandparents in Ukraine?
TUCHMAN: Almost all of their parents were born Ukraine and many of these children were also born there. This is a private preschool, daycare as well as an afterschool program for children ages 6 months to 12 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we in a state of peace or are we in a state of war in this country?
STUDENTS: Peace, peace, peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about Ukraine?
STUDENTS: War.
TUCHMAN: The feeling here is that they know what's happening in Ukraine is frightening, it's important for these children to learn about it and talk about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can you say about soldiers?
How do you feel about them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're brave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're brave, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soldiers help people to not die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If someone comes to your house, start destroying it or taking your stuff, you know, would you be happy about that?
STUDENTS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think this is right?
STUDENTS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When another country like coming to another country and taking stuff and bombing and do you think this is right?
STUDENTS: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Who came to Ukraine?
STUDENTS: Russia.
TUCHMAN: The teachers ask how the children are feeling about all this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worried.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Worried.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scared. What other words is war?
How can we describe a war?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sadness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sadness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My family is -- well, are very scared for my grand, my great grandma, my relatives that are also in war. And it's very anxious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope Ukrainian win, because some Russian people are good and saying stop to the other Russian who is being bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So not all the Russian people are bad, right?
There are some people who just, you know, say no war, please stop it. They're asking the president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's not because of the Russian people. It's because of the president. He's greedy and trying to take over the country.
TUCHMAN: Roman and Helena Dutka are the owners of the academy.
Do you think your students here are now prouder to be Ukrainian American than even before this war?
ROMAN DUTKA, UKRAINIAN ACADEMY OWNERS: Yes, I think they are proud about their roots, that they're Ukrainians and about that Ukraine is standing strong. I think that --
HALYNA DUTKA, UKRAINIAN ACADEMNY OWNER: Staying together.
TUCHMAN: Before we say goodbye to the students, I get to talk with them a bit.
If you had superpowers, what would you do if you had superpowers?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Save the good people.
TUCHMAN: Save the good people?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: That's what you would do as superwoman?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes and make the house fly into the air.
TUCHMAN: Make the house fly into the air?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Fly to safety?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: The laughter of children who have a lot on their minds -- Gary Tuchman, CNN, Parma Heights, Ohio.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, Twitter's board isn't exactly excited about the possibility of a new boss. Coming up, we'll look at their plan to keep Elon Musk from buying the social media giant. That's coming up.
Plus Kyiv and Moscow have two different narratives about the sinking of a Russian warship. But the U.S. now says it knows what happened. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back. To all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get you caught up with the latest developments in Ukraine.
Kyiv came under fire this morning with several explosions in its outskirts. That's according to the city's mayor, who says emergency crews are at the scene. Now still not clear if there are any casualties.
To the west, Ukraine says it shot down four cruise missiles fired at the Lviv region. It claims the missiles were fired by Russian aircraft that had taken off from nearby Belarus.
And also hearing officials in Luhansk saying Russian forces shelled two towns, damaging gas pipelines, killing one and injuring three. Meanwhile, civilians fleeing the besieged city of Mariupol have been told to get to safety on their own. That's because buses can't go through a washed-out section of the road through Zaporizhzhya.
The U.S. now confirms two Ukrainian missiles sank the pride of Russia's Black Sea fleet but Russia says the cruiser suffered an accidental explosion and sank as it was being towed to port. Russian news agency Tass reports at least some of its surviving crew members arrived at the port at Sebastopol Friday.
News of the Moskva's demise wasn't easy to report for Russian state media. Nic Robertson explains how the top news program tried to bury the lead.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Russia's biggest naval loss in a generation hidden by propaganda state TV.
Top story on Russia's most watched primetime new show gas exports, anchors railing against the West. Almost half an hour later, the first mention of Russia's prestigious prize Black Sea Fleet flagship the Moskva, they've buried the lead, now they lie about it, claiming it's a float. There's no open fire. Ammunition explosions are contained.
It's another six hours near midnight most Russians asleep when Russia's military finally acknowledged what Ukrainian officials have been saying for hours that the $750 million according to Forbes Ukraine, nuclear capable guided missile cruiser has sunk.
It's not the first Russian naval ship the Ukrainians say they've hit. March 24th, claiming to have destroyed an amphibious assault ship.
Putin's losses are mounting. A failed assault on Kyiv, thousands of troops killed, massive economic sanctions.
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): His apparent callous indifference to naval losses has a track record as long as his reign.
In 2000, during training exercises, the nuclear powered Kursk submarine sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea. Putin was on vacation, reluctantly only returning to Moscow nearly a week later, 218 men died.
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LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: What happened?
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): When confronted back then by CNN's Larry King, Putin's stark solitary comment.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: (Speaking foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTSON (voice-over): It sank.
Lithuania's defense minister claims 485 crew were board the Moskva, noting Turkish rescue boats picked up only 54 of them. State TV claims all the crew survived. Russia's most disastrous naval adventure was 117 years ago against Japan. They lost the whole fleet. Eventually, the tsar and his family paid the ultimate price in Russia's revolution.
Too soon to say if the Moskva's sinking can punch a hole below Putin's propaganda waterline -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: New York is honoring a group of city workers, who helped saved lives Tuesday during the subway attack in Brooklyn. On Friday, the mayor joined other officials virtually to recognize the subway and bus operates with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Here's more from the mayor.
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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: Your actions were indicative of what is great about the service that you deliver every day in general but, specifically, the service you deliver during times of crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: In addition to those heroes, five people will share a combined $50,000 reward for providing critical information that led to the arrest of the shooting suspect. Officials blame 62-year-old Frank James of shooting 10 people in the attack and committing multiple other crimes.
The board of Twitter has come up with a plan to make it harder and more expensive for Elon Musk to buy the social media company. They basically plan to sell shares of Twitter to anyone not named Elon Musk at a big discount. That would dilute Musk's stake in the company. Brian Stelter explains this social media showdown.
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BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. All eyes are on Twitter now that Elon Musk has set his sights on the company. Musk filing paperwork early Thursday, pitching a takeover of the company, offering to take Twitter private to the tune of more than $40 billion.
He said he wants to preserve free speech and help civilization. But there are opponents to this offer, including Twitter's board of directors, announcing on Friday a limited term shareholder rights plan, called a poison pill, that could make it harder for Musk to acquire the company.
This is all part of a dramatic negotiation over the future of Twitter. It's a common move in the business world to halt a hostile takeover bid. It would preserve the right for Twitter shareholders other than Musk to acquire more shares at a relatively cheap price, effectively diluting Musk's stake.
Right now, he owns about 9 percent of Twitter. He wants to buy up the rest. But this poison pill would be triggered if Musk or anybody else acquires more than 15 percent of the company.
This wouldn't necessarily stop Musk entirely but it could push him to the negotiating table to talk to the board. That may be the next step. We don't know what could happen next for Twitter.
Now the poison pill idea, it's a common move in the business world. But Musk is anything but common. He's the richest man in the world, thanks to his wealth from Tesla and SpaceX.
And he is unpredictable. He may in fact just go ahead and tweet what his next plans are for the company. But we're heading into a holiday weekend in the United States, with a lot of uncertainty about what is next for Twitter -- Brian Stelter, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: It's Passover which commemorates the Israelites' escape from slavery. Our Jake Tapper met Jews in Ukraine to find out why it's such a special time for them this year. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Jerusalem is on edge after these clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the al-Aqsa mosque compound. Palestinians say more than 150 people were injured by Israeli security forces on Friday.
Israeli police say they made more than 300 arrests inside the mosque but only entered the compound because those throwing rocks were jeopardizing safe worship.
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There was a show of solidarity in Rome on Good Friday as Pope Francis oversaw the Way of the Cross, the procession that recreates Jesus' steps toward Calvary. Two women, one Russian and one Ukrainian, carried the cross together.
The gesture was criticized by some Ukrainian Catholics, who don't feel much unity right now with Russia. In Kyiv, the Passover story, the exodus of the Israelites from slavery
in Egypt, is especially meaningful for Ukrainian Jews, forced to flee their homes. Our Jake Tapper joined with a rabbi in Kyiv for Passover seder preparations.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): At every seder, Jews say, let all who are hungry come and eat. And at this synagogue in Kiev, they are taking it literally.
RABBI RAPHAEL RUTMAN, HOSTING PASSOVER DINNER IN KIEV, UKRAINE: We have been providing food packages, water, non-perishable items, medicine, evacuations. Trying to celebrate freedom while there's so much terror going on around us, is very, very difficult.
TAPPER: Still, the consistency of tradition it is all more crucial when it is hard to uphold. Last night, Russians were shelling nearby.
Tonight, Rabbi Rutman invites me in and asks me to put on the phylacteries containing parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah.
(on camera): This is a little bit defiant. There are people who tried to get rid of our people in this part of the country. In fact, in this part of the world. And there are still some people like that, right?
RUTMAN: This is a way of showing defiance. This is a way of showing that the Jewish people live on. No matter how many years pass by, the Jewish people are alive and well. And we are proving it by praying.
TAPPER: Hear that?
Hear that, Nazis?
[04:45:00]
TAPPER: We're still here.
(LAUGHTER)
TAPPER (voice-over): Rabbi Rutman is proud of the Jewish president of his country.
RUTMAN: Shalom.
TAPPER: But seems just as proud to live in a town where the Christian mayor visits to pay his respects.
UNIDENTIFIED MAYOR: I received invitation. I can't say no.
TAPPER: Inside, before sundown, Rutman shows me the seder table and answers the traditional question: Why is tonight difficult than all other nights?
RUTMAN: There are many things about this night that's different. People who are coming to spend the holiday will be spending it under curfew and arrangements have to be made for that. So there's a lot of things very different about this night.
TAPPER: As we get closer to sunset back in Lviv --
VLADISLAD KOVALOV, UKRAINIAN SHELTER RESIDENT: (Speaking foreign language).
TAPPER: -- Vladislad Kovalov is busy preparing for tonight's seder in the shelter he has been staying at for a month.
His family refused to leave northeastern Ukraine amid attacks. But as a military aged man, he is not allowed to leave Ukraine.
KOVALOV (through translation): Passover is typically a family holiday. Normally, I would be with my family. Now I have another family here. It's a very big family that we welcome everyone to.
TAPPER: The meal will be a welcome bit of familiarity for the families staying in the office building-turned-refuge.
From table to table to table, those lucky enough to celebrate Passover in relative peace will pray the families of their fellow Ukrainians will be passed over, as the Russians continue their bloody destructive invasion.
RUTMAN: Passover is Passover. It is about freedom. And we cannot give up. And the good always has to outweigh the evil and the bad. And it will.
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BRUNHUBER: That report from our Jake Tapper.
Residents along South Africa's east coast are picking up the pieces from one of the worst storm's in the country's history. After the break, my conversation with a local official about the destruction and the growing death toll.
Plus several wildfires are wreaking havoc in the U.S. and dry temperatures in some states could make matters even worse. We'll go live to the CNN weather center for the latest ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Scientists are seeing a troubling trend as we get closer to the beginning of hurricane season.
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BRUNHUBER: A new study blames the climate crisis for supercharged rainfall in the 2020 hurricane season, as much as 11 percent higher than previous years. Scientists warn hurricane rains will continue to get worse, which means more flooding and hurricanes will become even stronger. CNN's Bill Weir explains.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing now through these new studies is just more data that confirms the basic laws of physics, which is a hotter, warmer atmosphere holds more water and moisture. That means bigger rain bomb events.
And heat and water are the engines of hurricanes, the food, the fuel. And so more or both of those would make what would be average categories 2 and 3s into big monster 4 and 5s. So very little science on whether it will increase the number of hurricanes but having worse bad ones is going to be expensive and tough enough.
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BRUNHUBER: Have a look at these chilling images from South Africa's east coast, ravaged by severe flooding earlier this week. Nearly 400 people are have been killed and there are fears the death toll could rise. Here's one shell-shocked mother, describing her devastating loss.
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BONAKELE MTSHALI, FLOODING SURVIVOR (through translator): When I arrived ,I asked where the children were and wasn't even bothered about my house being swept away by the floods.
so I asked where my children were because I told them to go stay with my sister. No one answered me. I asked my son, he also didn't know. So I realized they were swept away with the flood.
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BRUNHUBER: Some 40,000 people have been affected by flooding and infrastructure damage. And more rain is forecast for the region through Saturday evening.
Now we often interpret these disasters through numbers, the size of the death toll, the cost of the damage. But it's important to remember that lives have been shattered. Earlier, I asked regional official Malcolm Canham to share some of the stories he's heard in the past few days. Here he is.
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MALCOLM CANHAM, ETHEKWINI METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY: Everybody knows of somebody who has been affected, either through loss of life or by being displaced and loss of all their goods. So there are very harrowing tales which cut to the heart when one listens to what has happened on the ground.
Families wiped out; five in a family at one go; 10 in a family; bodies that have not yet been recovered because they are covered with the mounds of soil and to find them is an arduous task.
The issues we have, 111 wards on our municipality. Each has been similarly affected. To prioritize one over the other is a very difficult task to do, when residents on the ground are calling for assistance.
So it is the loss of life that has been the worst. And the case of a father, who would refuse to leave his young son, carried him all the way up the hill until the service system, mortuary services could come collect him.
And he got into the back of the van with him to make sure that the other deceased people in the van would not fall onto his son. So he traveled the whole journey just to protect his son, not only through life but also in death, harrowing stories.
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BRUNHUBER: That was regional official Malcolm Canham in Durban, South Africa.
Now we want to update you on extreme weather conditions in the Philippines. At least 137 people confirmed to have died due to tropical storm Megi, according to officials. More than 320,000 people have been displaced by the disaster.
Thousands of hectares of farmland have also been impacted, including rice, corn and livestock. Megi was downgraded to a tropical depression earlier this week.
And millions here in the U.S. are under red flag warnings or fire weather watches this weekend. In Colorado, wildland fire has forced some residents to evacuate their homes.
As of Friday night, officials say it's grown to around 300 acres with zero containment. In New Mexico officials are raising concerns over the air quality, as five wildfires spread across the state. Fires have killed at least two people, charred thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of structures.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. Our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues on "NEW DAY" with Christie Paul and Alex Marquardt. You're watching CNN.
