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Russia Demands All Fighters Leave Mariupol; Hundreds Seek Shelter Near Sievierodonetsk; Rising Concerns After Russian Occupation Of Chernobyl; Ukraine Braces For Retaliation For Moskva; Polish Train Station Becomes Rest Stop For Ukrainian Refugees; U.S. Sending High- Powered Equipment In Latest Aid Package; U.S. Hits Highest Inflation In 40 Years; Ukrainian Rock Star Uses Music To Lift People's Spirits. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 17, 2022 - 03:00 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.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm John Vause, live in Lviv, Ukraine. A much-needed resupply of weapons from the West has arrived but time is running out for fighters in the besieged city of Mariupol. We'll bring you Russia's latest ultimatum.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta, following our other top stories.
North Korea tests what it describes as a new type of weapon. We'll have details on that. Plus what made this year's military parade different from those we've seen in the past.
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VAUSE: The mayor of one suburb in Kyiv says it has come under rocket attack today. This as a deadline looms in the besieged city of Mariupol. Moscow claims to have cleared urban areas of almost all Ukrainian forces and now is demanding all remaining fighters lay down weapons and ammunition and leave by 1:00 pm local time, about three hours from now.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned the city was in the grips of a humanitarian crisis, suggesting Ukrainian soldiers have suffered significant losses.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman, this is what the Russian Federation did, deliberately did, and deliberately continues to destroy cities. Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol.
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VAUSE: Russian strikes have continued in areas of the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine. Officials in Kharkiv say at least two were killed, 18 injured, after a cruise missile attack.
In the south, Russian strikes in the Luhansk region damaged nearly a dozen infrastructure facilities, including an oil refinery. Ukrainian officials say the renewed attacks on southern Ukraine are a retaliation for the sinking of the Moskva in the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, Russia said it had shot down a Ukrainian aircraft carrying Western military equipment near Odessa. The White House says more weapons, ammunition and other military aid have started to arrive and for the first time the U.S. is sending additional high-powered equipment, like helicopters, Howitzers and more drones.
Those deliveries come as Russian troops reportedly prepare for a ground offensive in Eastern Ukraine, near one town likely to be in the direct path of a Russian advance. Hundreds of residents are seeking shelter underground, many because they either cannot or will not leave. Here's CNN's Ben Wedeman.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (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 Sievierodonetsk.
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 (ph) 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, Timor (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 (ph) struggles to move about the shelter. He's not leaving town.
"I was born here and I'll stay here," he says. [03:05:00]
WEDEMAN (voice-over): 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 -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, outside Sievierodonetsk, Eastern Ukraine.
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VAUSE: Everyday operations and overall control over the nonfunctional nuclear power plant may have returned to normal. But radiation levels around the site have not. Ukrainian officials say they are now abnormally high.
In particular, in an area known as the Red Forest, a four square-mile exclusion zone around the plant where radioactivity has remained extremely high for four decades after reactor number 4 exploded, causing the world's worst nuclear accident.
When Russian soldiers took control of the site in the first week of the invasion, they unwittingly decided to dig trenches and defensive positions for tanks in the Red Forest; 90 percent of the radioactivity in the forest is concentrated in the soil and it is called the Red Forest because, when that reactor exploded, the trees burned from the inside out; hence, it was red. More on that in a moment.
Now aid group World Central Kitchen says one of its partner restaurants has been hit by a missile attack in Kharkiv. At least four staff members were injured, taken to hospital. The World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook posted a video to Twitter, describing the horrific scenes after the attack.
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NATE MOOK, CEO, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Less than 24 hours ago, I was standing right here, picking up meals for the WCK team, meeting Vera and the staff. Not too long ago, a missile hit here.
As you can see, tremendous amounts of damage; still a fire in the building there. Right here is the kitchen area. It goes back. A lot of damage to the kitchen as well, a number of staff were wounded. They've at the hospital right now.
Nobody was killed in the restaurant but we are told that one person was killed in this strike.
This was a big hit, as you can see. Over a dozen cars burned out all around me, some pieces of cars in a tree here. Just a tremendous amount of carnage left behind for no reason.
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VAUSE: World Central Kitchen was founded by the celebrity chef Jose Andres. It began operations in Ukraine hours after the fighting began in February; so far, serving 250,000 meals every day.
Let's go back to Kim Brunhuber at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Thanks so much, John.
North Korea claims it's taken a new step to boost its nuclear capabilities. South Korea says Pyongyang fired two projectiles Saturday that fell east of the Korean Peninsula. North Korean state media described them as a new type of guided weapon that will improve the nation's tactical nuclear ability. Will Ripley has more.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The grand finale of North Korea's biggest holiday celebration, the country launched a new tactical guided weapon, observed by its leader, Kim Jong-un, a show of force to mark the 110th birthday of the country's founder and Kim's grandfather, the late Kim Il-sung.
The show in the sky followed an extravagant parade on the ground. On Friday, Kim and his top aides, including sister, Kim Yo Jong, watched columns of colorful performers pass by. But there were no tanks, missiles or other military hardware that had been showcased in the past.
This latest launch not entirely unexpected by experts after the country conducted a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile test in March, though some experts now question North Korea's claim the launch in March was a new missile, saying it was actually an older model.
The Pentagon has also expressed concern Pyongyang is preparing for a possible underground nuclear test for the first time since 2017. In a New Year's speech, Kim praised military advances but mainly spoke about domestic issues, like food shortages, which have been made worse by the country's self isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, the United Nations warned more than 40 percent of North Koreans are food insecure. The new launch, an old tactic by the rogue nation, trying to deflect from the problems that are persistent in the country, even before Kim came to power.
And in another made-for-TV moment, Kim bestowed the gift of a luxury apartment earlier this week to long-time news reader Ri Chun-hee, who was given a VIP tour of the flat. Kim has a development plan to build 50,000 new apartments in Pyongyang over the next five years. This building, like so much else in North Korea, is reserved for the elite -- Will Ripley, CNN, Taiwan.
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BRUNHUBER: More evacuations took place Saturday in Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: But some of them were put on hold because of the constant bombardment. We'll have an update after the break. And as millions escape the fighting in Ukraine, some have no idea
where they're headed. We'll take you to a train station in Poland giving refugees a chance to figure out what come next. Stay with us.
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VAUSE: Welcome back.
Let's get a little more on the situation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Luke Harding is a foreign correspondent for "The Guardian" newspaper, he's also author of "Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia's Attack on (sic) the West." He joins us on the line from Kyiv.
Luke, have the Ukrainians been able to get a full assessment of how much damage was done to the plant during the four weeks or so it was under Russian control?
How can they still be unaware of the potential dangers of what they were doing?
LUKE HARDING, "THE GUARDIAN": Yes, it's a good question. What we know is that about 1,000 Russians were stationed at the Chernobyl plant, occupying it, with 50 military vehicles, digging trenches, fortifications, including in highly radioactive areas.
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HARDING: And the Ukrainian authorities I've talked to say, look, we are aware of the radiation risks, not least to the soldiers themselves. But one of the problems is that they stole all our monitoring equipment.
So the full scale of the potential risk is not yet clear. What we've seen, what people I've spoken to around Chernobyl have been saying, is that thousands, thousands of Russian military vehicles were going through this sort of forbidden exclusion zone hourly as part of their attempts, doomed attempt, unsuccessful attempts, to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
VAUSE: It seems incredible that they didn't have any kind of idea or any kind of protective equipment, knowing that this was an area of high radioactivity. It questions the preparation and training these soldiers received before they were sent on this invasion.
HARDING: Yes, I mean, that's right. I was talking to one family, who had Russian soldiers, they live just on the edge of Chernobyl, living with them, they occupied and stole their house, stole many of their belongings.
They described them as teenagers, really, from Siberia, who were surprised by the level of comfort that Ukraine had to offer, compared to what they were used to back home. I think one of the kind of themes of this war is the callousness of the Kremlin, of Vladimir Putin's military machine.
First and foremost, to Ukrainian civilians, who have been executed, who have been kidnapped, made to stay in cellars but also the sort of indifference to their own soldiers. What we understand is some of these soldiers who were stationed in Chernobyl are now ill with radiation sickness.
VAUSE: When it comes to the way Putin treats the military, any word on the fate of the crew of the Moskva?
Do we know how many survived, how many lives were lost?
HARDING: That's a great question. The sinking of the Moskva late Wednesday is one of the most extraordinary episodes in this terrible and bitter war. The Kremlin has not said anything. We know there were 510 crew members on board. There was video showing about 50 crew members in Sebastopol, the capital of occupied Crimea.
But no word as to the fate of the others. You just have to do the math. There seems to be about 450 sailors missing and you might imagine kind of presumed drowned. The Lithuanian foreign minister says about 50 were rescued by a Turkish ship.
But the details are sketchy. What we can say is this was really a huge blow, I think, to Russian military pride and also, for the Ukrainians, a big symbolic victory.
VAUSE: Also, it has enraged Vladimir Putin to no end, apparently.
Do we know what the fate of the captain has been?
HARDING: I mean, that's again a very good question. There were reports from an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry that the captain, Anatoly Kuprin (ph), had gone down with his ship, had been killed in the initial fire after it was struck by Ukrainian missiles, when the ship's ammunition hold exploded.
But there's been no confirmation of that. Contrary reports suggest he may have survived. But the problem, as you perfectly understand, is the Kremlin is such a secretive and opaque organization. Plus it lies all the time about practically everything. It's very, very hard to get reliable information from Moscow about what's really going on here.
VAUSE: Yes, pretty tough questions, because these are sort of the ongoing mysteries of the day, the fate of the crew, the fate of the captain. But it's one of those stories which they kind of acknowledged it on Russian state media. But, boy, do they bury the lead. The first mention was around midnight on state-run television.
But surely this is something which Russians will eventually find out about. They'll find out about the losses which have been happening here.
And I guess, does that happen by osmosis? How does word spread in Russia that these losses are starting to mount?
HARDING: Well, I mean, word doesn't necessarily spread. This is part of the problem, is that the Kremlin controls information. That's what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described as an Iron Curtain, an informational curtain.
Essentially all Russians who get their news from state television believe the Kremlin narrative, which is that Ukraine is an evil state run by fascists, supported by America and the West.
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HARDING: And this is a special operation to liberate them, a bit like the Second World War.
And again, you know, some of the Ukrainian families I've talked to, who talked to these Russian soldiers during occupation, say the soldiers kind of repeat these phrases.
So information will trickle back. You're right; I don't think it will change the massive public opinion inside the Russian Federation, which supports Vladimir Putin's illegal and terrible war.
VAUSE: Luke, thank you for being with us, we appreciate your insights. Great reporting. We feel very fortunate that you're with us on the line there from Kyiv, thank you.
HARDING: Thank you.
VAUSE: As Russian military issues an ultimatum for all Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol to leave immediately, it's difficult for anyone to get out of that besieged city. Less than 200 were able to evacuate on Saturday due to Russian bombing and also bad weather.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation in Mariupol inhuman. An estimated 180,000 people remain there in the immediate area, which is under Russian control.
In addition to Mariupol, evacuations in Ukraine south and east continue. Officials say more than 1,400 people were evacuated from areas affected by fighting on Saturday. In some cases the evacuations stopped because of heavy shelling, like you see here in the Luhansk region.
Scott McLean is in Estonia, where officials say they've taken in more than 30,000 refugees since the fighting began.
It's not a small amount of people for Estonia; it seems to be a big chunk of people.
What strain is this putting on the regional system?
How many more can they take? SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is putting a massive strain on resources here. This is a small country, only about 1.3 million people. You figure 30,000 refugees, that is well over 2 percent of the population that is Ukrainian refugees right now.
Or put a different way, one in every 44 people you run into in this country is a Ukrainian refugee. So they are struggling to find places to house them. Earlier this week, we went on a cruise ship, where more than 1,000 people are staying because the government thought that that option was a lot cheaper than housing people in hotels in the city.
So they will be there for up to four months. After that, they're expected to go out on their own, with still some help from the government.
I asked the minister responsible for refugees whether there were limits to the generosity of this country. She said, given the brutality, given the desperation we're seeing in Ukraine, there simply cannot be.
What there can be, what there is, are limits on the amount of resources that they actually have to share.
How many refugees are they expecting?
Earlier on, at the outset of the war, they were actually figuring they would get 2.5 times the number they've gotten, so about 75,000. That's what they're budgeting for in the worst case scenario. They may get even more than that.
What's interesting here is that, early on in the war, most of the people coming to Estonia were being picked up in buses, then being transported here from Poland. Estonia has a large Russian-speaking population, so this is an attractive place for a lot of people to come.
It has not been an attractive place for refugees in the past. A few years ago, the minister told me they got over 100 refugees. For this country, that was a lot. As of late, most of the people, about 300 a day, are coming through the eastern border with Russia. That is bizarre to imagine, that people are fleeing to the country that is bombing their country but it's the reality.
Yesterday we met a couple, not a couple, a pair of neighbors, who were in Mariupol. They survived 40 days of bombing before they were able to get out toward Russia. In their case, it was simply a matter of convenience.
For a lot of people, that is the case and then they're ending up in places like Estonia, where they can decide whether to stay here or find some other home in Europe before they manage to get back to Ukraine.
VAUSE: Yes, in many ways, it seems this is how many countries are standing up to Vladimir Putin, not in a military sense but in a humanitarian way. Scott McLean, thank you. Refugees are fleeing to Poland, over 2.7 million so far. Many have no
idea where to go next. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports from inside a Polish train station, which is now a temporary rest stop for thousands.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: This is going to be an unimaginably difficult holiday weekend for Ukrainian refugees. And 2.7 million of them are here in Poland.
And I'm at a train station that's essentially a greeting point, a halfway point for many of these refugees.
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ABDELAZIZ: Because what they do is they get here and then, take a look, they sit and they wait it out.
They try to figure out where they're going to go next, where they're going to spend the night. Because many people don't have a plan. They don't know what they're going to do.
They just know that they're fleeing for safety. And they have with them only what they can carry. And of course, their little ones with them. You can see this one is waiting it out with her mom here until they see where they can go.
So this refugee -- this train station is, in a way, a refugee shelter.
This young man has his dog with him. You can see that there. So that's a lot of what you see here, is refugee pets, too.
And again, when these refugees arrive here, they need help, they need support, they need assistance.
I will show you another thing here. This is medical station. So if somebody needs to get some help, they can do that.
That's what is offered at this train station: warm food, medical assistance, a friendly face if that's what you need.
So you have these 2.7 -- over 2.7 million refugees now here in Poland but they are not static. They are constantly moving, shifting, trying to find out where they go and what they do.
That's why there's a question, how do you continue to support them, how do you give them a more permanent sense of home? -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, on the Poland-Ukraine border.
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VAUSE: You can help the people of Ukraine, who are in need of food, water, shelter, medicine, clothing, a new start in life, peace. Go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a number of ways to help.
"AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS" is next. For the rest, I'll be back after a short break.
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VAUSE: Welcome to our viewers in the United States. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine.
In the past 30 minutes, there have been reports of rocket attacks on a suburb of Kyiv. The mayor says infrastructure has been damaged, possible disruptions to water and power supplies. We're bringing more details as we get them.
In the wasteland that was once Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters, the few who are still there defending the city, have been given until 1:00 pm local time to lay down their weapons and surrender less than three hours from now.
The Russian military laid down this ultimatum in the morning, demanding Ukrainians abandon their weapons if they want to live. Russian defense ministry claiming it shot down a Ukrainian transport plane carrying military aid from the West happening near Odessa, the port city in the south.
But still no confirmation that's accurate. Despite that claim, the U.S. says the first shipments of heavy weapons is now in country, including 18 Howitzer cannons, 40,000 artillery rounds that may only last a few days once the Russian assault begins.
The U.S. military now working the phones along with the Pentagon to try and get allies to speed up shipments of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. More details from CNN's Arlette Saenz, reporting in from the White House.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first round of that more sophisticated and heavy duty military assistance from the U.S. to Ukraine has started to arrive in the region. That's according to a White House official.
The plans were to send that equipment into the region and the Ukrainians would pick up the military assistance at the border and transfer it into the country themselves. It is unclear at this moment whether that transfer has started.
While the Pentagon would not detail a list of what this first shipment entails, officials expected it would include some of the more pressing needs, things like Howitzers and ammunition as well as radar systems.
Now this is part of an $800 million package President Biden announced earlier in the week and will also include helicopters and more Switchblade drones.
Now there had been some Biden administration officials, who previously were hesitant to send this type of equipment into Ukraine, worried that it could pose a risk of escalation in the view of Russia.
But the Ukrainians have asked for this type of weaponry and they're also preparing for a heightened battle in the eastern part of the country, where the terrain is different and they need more equipment.
Now Russia is also protesting this military support that the U.S. has been offering to Ukraine. Sources tell CNN that Russia sent a diplomatic note to the State Department warning of, quote, "unpredictable consequences" if the U.S. moves forward with supplying more military weaponry to Ukraine.
That raises questions about what Russia exactly could do next, at a time when Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is warning that the world should be on alert for the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia.
Now the U.S. at this moment remains undeterred by Russia's warnings, continuing to provide this assistance to Ukraine, especially as they see an evolving battlefield and are adjusting the types of assistance that they're offering to the country, as they're preparing for those battles in the east -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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VAUSE: The British prime minister has promised, the U.K. will stop at nothing to ensure Ukrainians have the resources they need to defend themselves against Russia.
Boris Johnson spoke with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on Saturday. The two leaders talked about the need for a long term security solution in Ukraine as well as the current crisis in Mariupol.
The British prime minister updated Zelenskyy about the military aid the U.K. will send in the coming days. Downing Street says the aid will include armored vehicles, anti-ship missiles as well.
Ukrainian officials warned days ago the battle for Eastern Ukraine would be unlike anything seen since World War II. Some U.S. military experts agree. We spoke to retired Army Major General Mark McCauley about the upcoming battle and what could be possibly decisive for Ukraine's future.
I asked him, if advance weapons are arriving now, is it too little, too late?
Here he is.
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MAJOR GENERAL MARK MCCAULEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Any resupply of that nature is valuable. The fight that I think the Ukrainians now have to focus on is the Donbas region.
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MCCAULEY: You see that the Russians are massing both in the northeast and the southern part of Ukraine for that, what Russians consider the big assault into that territory, that Putin has long considered part of Mother Russia.
So if the Ukrainians can use and certainly long-range artillery, the 155 Howitzer is valuable. Not enough of them. The hip helicopters, the MI-17s, for transport and some delivery of missiles from the helicopter platform, everything will help.
But the big, key question is, how can the Ukrainians, perhaps with a force between 30,000 and 40,000 present in that part of the country, can defend against perhaps 70,000, the residue of Russian forces?
And the Russian forces, with the ability amplified by their own set of drones, missiles, artillery and offshore batteries, this is going to be one heck of a very dirty fight.
For historians, it appears to be something reminiscent of the battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad, that house to house fighting that's bloody and gruesome and it's exactly what we saw in Mariupol.
VAUSE: Essentially when does it begin?
Is it matter of timing for Russians, to rearm and resupply?
Or other factors, like they want to move on firm, hard land, not muddy areas, that kind of thing?
MCCAULEY: It's interesting you make reference to the mud. Some have said that the mud was what restrained and constrained the Russians to use the highway network in the first two, three weeks of the campaign.
So there's value for any tactical commander on the ground if you can enter without getting vehicles bogged down and move off-road. Perhaps that's one of the requirements that the command staff of the Russian army is looking at.
But more importantly, time is on the Russians' side, not the Ukrainians' side. Though we're all anticipating the attack will take place today, really Monday, there's no requirement on the part of the Russians to move out at that time. They can wait, assemble forces, get necessary artillery.
They're receiving resupply of missiles and drones. They want to be set to go in and they have a campaign outline. That campaign is basically to terrorize and to basically destroy the remnants of the Ukrainian army any way they know how.
VAUSE: Will be quite the battle in coming days and weeks.
MCCAULEY: Yes.
VAUSE: General McCauley, thank you sir.
MCCAULEY: Thank you.
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VAUSE: Word of another high-ranking Russian military officer killed here in Ukraine. The mayor of St. Petersburg says Major General Vladimir Frolov was killed, claiming he died in a battle with what he called Ukrainian nationalists.
CNN cannot confirm the circumstances of Frolov's death but he would be among at least 15 lieutenant colonel or higher ranking officers, who have died during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Back now to CNN's world headquarters, Kim Brunhuber standing by.
Quite a number of senior officers to lose in two months, eight weeks of fighting?
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, interesting to see how the Kremlin spins that. Thanks so much, John, appreciate it.
The United States is experiencing its highest inflation rate in decades. In March, consumer prices soared by 8.5 percent over the previous year.
A logjam at the U.S.-Mexico border didn't help. For a time, a Texas policy that required enhanced drug and immigration inspections resulted in a supply chain disruption, gridlocked trucks carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of spoiled produce. The move condemned as political theater and Texas governor Abbott reversed the order.
Home construction is also suffering in the U.S. Camila Bernal looks at that.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Chen Yaacov quoted this home renovation project in April of 2021, he estimated the cost to be $600,000. But with the increase in costs in almost everything related to homes --
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CHEN YAACOV, OWNER, PEARL REMODELING: New floors, new baseboards and doors --
BERNAL (voice-over): -- this general contractor is now dealing with very different numbers.
YAACOV: We're looking at $120,000 to $150,000 more. So we would be at $720,000 to $750,000 now, just a year apart.
BERNAL (voice-over): According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation for construction materials has increased over 23 percent in the 12 months since March of 2021, metal products 36 percent, lumber 21.8 percent and plastic 35.2 percent.
YAACOV: The supply of wood, it's used to be $25. Now you pay almost $50.
BERNAL (voice-over): These price hikes are impacting new construction and existing homes.
RICHARD GREEN, DIRECTOR, USC LUSK CENTER FOR REAL ESTATE: If the cost of producing housing goes up, in order for that housing production to be profitable, you need to charge higher rent or else you're going to lose money. And that's an important source of where our inflation numbers are coming from.
BERNAL (voice-over): Richard Green, an economist and expert on housing markets, believes house prices will fall next year and thinks rent will continue to increase but not as rapidly. In terms of materials --
GREEN: Geopolitical issues have an enormous impact on the supply chain, which has a big impact on the cost of materials. So you need to be able to do a forecast of how the world is interacting with itself, do a forecast on what's going to happen to material prices.
BERNAL (voice-over): To deal with the unknown, Yaacov says he's had to adjust his budget, take a loss or pass it on to his customers.
YAACOV: We have to adjust it. Otherwise, I'm not going to make money.
BERNAL (voice-over): Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: We're tracking another weekend of gun violence here in the U.S. Police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are looking for the person who shot as many as 10 people on Saturday in the East Allegheny neighborhood.
Authorities tweeted at least three of the 10 victims were critically injured, urging people to stay out of the area. No word yet on motive.
Today is the culmination of Holy Week in the Christian world. Pope Francis will soon begin his Sunday Easter mass. We'll get the latest details after the break.
Also CNN speaks to a Ukrainian rock star, who's using his voice to help those civilians forget about the horrors of war.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In war-torn Ukraine, the unrelenting violence hasn't deterred many people from celebrating Easter. Candle-bearing Ukrainians attended an Easter vigil yesterday in this cathedral in Kyiv. While the adults prayed, kids took Easter eggs from a basket.
And one woman said, for her, visiting the church during the war is even more important than any other time. Many prayed for the war to come to an end.
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BRUNHUBER: Pope Francis is getting ready to celebrate mass at St. Peter's, commemorating Jesus' resurrection after his crucifixion, the victory of life over death.
Earlier, the pope condemned the cruelty of the war in Ukraine at the Easter vigil mass he attended on Saturday. Joining me with more from Rome, CNN's John Allen.
A very different, maybe bittersweet Easter celebration in many ways.
What are we expecting?
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Happy Easter to you.
Yes, clearly a cloud has been cast over these Easter Sunday celebrations because of the war in Ukraine. As you mentioned, Pope Francis will shortly begin celebrating the Easter mass in St. Peter's Square. This is the first time he's been able to do that in the square in front of a crowd since the COVID pandemic began.
Later today, at noon, he'll deliver his traditional address, Urbi et Orbi, to the city and the world. It's usually a 360-degree review of the global situation. There we would expect the pontiff very directly to address the crisis in Ukraine and to repeat his denunciations of the war.
But even without speaking, the pope managed to make a statement Friday night, Good Friday, during the traditional Way of the Cross ceremony. At one point, he entrusted the cross to a Ukrainian and a Russian woman, both nurses.
They're personal friends here in Rome. That brought a lot of protests from Ukrainians, who saw it as a kind of moral equivalence between the aggressor and the victim. But the pope clearly saw it as an important statement about reconciliation and the possibility of peace and friendship despite the conflict.
So a very busy and, as you say, somewhat bittersweet Easter here in Rome, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: We'll be watching throughout the day.
Musicians and artists in Ukraine are using their skills to comfort and encourage their fellow citizens. We'll meet one rock star, using the power of song to ease refugees' minds. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Music flowing in the streets of Dnipro, Ukraine, as musicians played, hoping to boost morale as the war rage on. The group played well-known pieces, including the James bond theme along with Ukrainian numbers. The conductor said the goal was to bring positivity to people at a difficult time.
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BRUNHUBER: A Ukrainian rock star has a similar idea. The famous musician, nicknamed the Ukrainian Bruce Springsteen, is trying to reassure his audience that, one day, everything will be all right. Rafael Romo has that story.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): There was the orchestra that performed the concert for peace in the public square in the middle of the day in spite of the danger of an airstrike.
And the cellist who defied the invaders by playing his instrument in front of bombed-out buildings.
And who can forget the little girl with the sweetest voice, who made those around her forget they were in a bomb shelter?
One by one, singers and musicians in Ukraine have defied the Russians by using their talent to unite a nation and soothe a terrified population.
SVIATOSLAV VAKARCHUK, UKRAINIAN SINGER: We love singing.
ROMO (voice-over): The most famous one is Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, better known as Slava, who some call the Ukrainian Bruce Springsteen.
VAKARCHUK: Dignity and freedom are basic values.
ROMO (voice-over): At the beginning of the invasion, Slava could have chosen to flee the country. Instead, he decided not only to stay but to visit terrified civilians, like these people seeking shelter in a Kharkiv subway station.
ROMO: You went to a subway station by yourself, where there were many people, and, unannounced, and you started singing.
Why did you do something like that?
ROMO (voice-over): "The whole idea," he says, "is to help people forget, even if it is for a fleeting moment, about the horror of war."
VAKARCHUK: Imagine somebody like me comes and says, hey, guys, everything is fine. Let's sing together. Let's have some fun.
ROMO: Let's forget for a moment that we are at war.
ROMO (voice-over): Yes, that's -- this is it.
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ROMO (voice-over): And so he's visited hospitals like this one in Mykolaiv to cheer up victims of a rocket attack, survivors of an airstrike at a train station at Kramatorsk and troops on the front lines.
Songs, he says, are his answer to Russian bullets. Empathy and goodwill are more powerful than any bomb.
VAKARCHUK: Ukrainians are one of the most -- sorry -- the freest nations in the world.
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VAKARCHUK: We have this gene of freedom in our DNA. That's why probably many Americans instinctively, intuitively support us now.
ROMO (voice-over): In the streets, people greet him and ask for pictures. Slava happily obliges and takes the opportunity to give everybody the same message: everything will be all right, which happens to be the title of one of his songs; his most popular nowadays.
"I hope that everything is going to be all right for everybody," the song says. "Our time is going to come" -- Rafael Romo, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
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BRUNHUBER: No surprise a man who spent nearly a year in the cutting- edge realm of outer space is using new technology to raise money for Ukrainian relief.
Former U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly raised $500,000 by selling nonfungible tokens, NFTs, as they're nicknamed. They are one-of-a-kind assets, a kind of original digital file. In this case, 3,300 images of Kelly in space created by the content studio Orange Comet.
They sold out at auction in one day. Proceeds are going to Global Empowerment Mission, which helps the victims of the war in Ukraine.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.
