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Ukraine: Russian Commanders Vows To "Level Everything On The Ground" In Area Around Mariupol Steelworks; U.S. Working At "Unprecedented" Speed To Ship Weapons; U.S. Justice Department Will Appeal Mask Ruling If CDC Advises; Frustration Growing In Shanghai Over Strict Lockdown; U.K. Prime Minister Apologizes For COVID Lockdown Breach. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 20, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine where the coming hours may be critical for the besieged city of Mariupol according to intercepted communications, Russian troops plan to level everything to the ground.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: And live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Paula Newton. I'll be covering some of our other top stories including the new era of maskless travel. How the Biden administration could fight to revive the mask mandate.
VAUSE: The Russian Ministry of Defense says it's offering a ceasefire to Ukrainian forces surrounded in a steel factory in the city of Mariupol. But Ukrainian commanders call it (PH) surrender and have vowed they will not give up.
Russian fighters have lay siege to the southern port city for seven weeks now as part of the Donbass region. Russian state media release drone footage of the steelworks where Ukraine says hundreds of civilians are taking shelter.
A Marine commander says the situation within that steelworks is now critical with food and water in short supply.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. SERHII VOLYNA, UKRAINIAN 36TH SEPARATE MARINE BRIGADE (through translator): This is our statement to the world. It may be our last statement, we might have only a few days or even hours left.
The enemy's units are 10 times larger than ours. They have supremacy in the air, artillery and units that are dislocated on the ground, equipment and tanks. We appeal to the world leaders to help us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Says that the area is crowded with that 500 wounded, left to rot without medical care in the basement or the lower regions of that steel facility. The rest of the city though is in ruins.
More now from CNN's Matt Rivers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For the battered and desperate citizens of Mariupol, a chilling new threat has emerged. The Security Service of Ukraine or SBU released a purported communications intercept of a Russian ground unit commander who said Russian aircraft we're planning to "level everything to the ground around Azovstal".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will there be some kind of explosion?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said to level everything to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are being bombed and bombed. They are knocking them out.
RIVERS: CNN cannot vouch for the authenticity of the recording, but the SBU has previously released audio from intercepted radio traffic revealing Russian soldiers discussing killing and raping civilians, bolstering allegations of war crimes by Russian troops. Military observers have also noted a tendency of Russian troops to use unsecured communications in Ukraine.
For now, a Ukrainian commander says Russian forces are "willingly bombing and shelling the plan", a sprawling complex in Mariupol southeast that once employed more than 10,000 people. It's unclear how many Ukrainian forces are at the site but one commander says the Russians are using free fall bombs, rockets, bunker buster bombs and other artillery at the facility.
Video posted on government social media, which CNN cannot verify shows dozens of women and children who say they'd been staying under the facility for weeks holding out against Russian attacks. The surrender deadline Russian forces issued to Ukrainian troops has now expired, but the Russian military official in charge of the operation say they will allow the civilians safe passage out of the area.
COL. GEN. MIKHAIL MIZINTSEV, DIRECTOR, RUSSIAN NATIONAL AND DEFENSE CONTROL CENTER (through translator): Russian leadership will guarantee safe evacuation of each and every civilian as well as the safety of humanitarian convoy's movement in any direction they choose.
RIVERS: It's unclear if the Ukrainians will take the word of the Russian general who has himself been accused of excesses during the Mariupol campaign. Not all of Mariupol civilians are in the steel factory, tens of thousands are trying to survive in other parts of the city. CNN is not in Mariupol, but the Reuters news agency found these people cooking outside a residential building on Monday. They're chopping wood to make a fire to boil water, some soup and even cook some pancakes.
This woman cutting a boy's hair says, "They need to quickly fix the water supply problem. How can we live without water? It's horrible."
And this woman says of the bombardment --
[00:05:09]
OLGA, MARIUPOL RESIDENT (through interpreter): To be honest, we are not well, I have mental problems after airstrikes. That's for sure. I'm really scared. When I hear a plane. I just run away.
RIVERS: Matt Rivers, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has now confirmed the next phase of Russia's war in Ukraine has begun. Here he is.
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SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Operation in the east of Ukraine is aimed as was announced from the very beginning to fully liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk republics and this operation will continue, it is beginning -- I mean, another stage of this operation is beginning and I'm sure this will be a very important moment of this entire special operation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: We've already seen areas across the south and the east coming under fire in Luhansk, parts of eastern Ukraine's Donbass. The regional governor says Russian forces are attacking from all directions, intense artillery strikes, as well as air bombardment.
A new video just in to CNN shows some of the damage in eastern Ukraine. Buildings torn apart by military strikes. Some smoke is still rising from the ruins.
These scenes playing out less than 40 kilometers from the town of Cremona, where the Regional Governor says Russian forces are now in control.
A warning, the video you're about to see is graphic, it may be hard to watch. This is a north eastern city of Kharkiv. Local officials say a barrage of Russian shelling left at least three people dead, 16 injured on Tuesday. The mayor says civilian areas have been under nonstop bombardments since Sunday.
And in the capital Kyiv, the deputy mayor requesting 200,000 gas masks to protect against potential chemical weapons attacks. The U.S. has already shipped some protective gear to Ukraine. U.S. officials say more is on the way.
The U.S. is working quickly to get more weapons into the hands of Ukrainian fighters according to a senior U.S. defense official.
Sources in the White House say it will likely be a second weapons package for Ukraine worth about $800 million just one week after the first one was approved.
CNN's Oren Liebermann has more now reporting in from the Pentagon.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It used to take weeks or even months to ship weapons to another country, especially through presidential drawdown authority, which is when the U.S. ships its own military stocks to another country.
Now, during this ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, a senior defense official says they're working around the clock 24/7 to try to get these shipments reviewed, approved and sent as quickly as possible. And that includes what can generally be a lengthy process. It starts with bilateral conversations between the U.S. and another country, of course, Ukraine in this case.
Then, the U.S. checks its own stocks to see what's available, what can be sent, it again gets a recommendation from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as well as an analysis on what effect it would have on military readiness. It then requires Secretary of Defense approval, presidential approval, and then the secretary of state before it comes back to the Pentagon to actually begin the process of shipping the weapons.
That process compressed to as little as humanly possible to get it done to ship weapons from U.S. stocks to Ukraine as they need not only small arms, ammunition and artillery, but all of the other weapons and equipment to stay in the fight.
The U.S. knows this is a priority. They know the almost insatiable need of Ukrainian forces in this fight against Russia. And they're trying to make this go as quickly as humanly possible.
Again, a process that's now down to 48 to 72 hours from beginning to end to start shipping weapons. And we see it with for example, last week's approval of $800 million from the Biden administration to ship to Ukraine within days that has already begun shipping. A separate senior defense official saying five flights have already got in, another seven flights or so expected in the next 24 hours. That speaks to the speed at which these shipments, these weapons, these packages of equipment are moving.
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VAUSE: Joining me now is Matthew Schmidt, Professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Thank you, Matthew for being with us.
You know, just a day before we had this intercept, which revealed the Russian troops we met leveling that steel and iron factory in Mariupol, the commander -- the Ukrainian forces said the site was being hit with bunker buster bombs, artillery was incoming from sea and from land. There were rocket and missile strikes.
So, given all of that, and also the sort of the history and the reputation of the Russian forces engaged in this fight, is there any other possible conclusion that they will in fact level that steelworks despite of thousands civilians there who have taken shelter and despite that there could be 500 wounded men?
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MATTHEW SCHMIDT, PROFESSOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT: I wouldn't put any trust in the Russian's sides word on doing that right now and I think what many people may not realize is this last stand by the Ukrainians in Mariupol looks like the last hand in Stalingrad in World War II, where Soviet defenders were, you know, were holed up, trying to be back, you know, Nazi troops.
So, it would be very bad really to allow that to happen, allow those Ukrainian troops to sort of come out and tell that story. So, there's sort of that propaganda reason to just hammer it and unbury everybody.
VAUSE: So, basically, level the thing flat, bury everyone underneath, and be done with it. Is that what you're saying?
SCHMIDT: Yes, you can write the story you want on top of the rubble. If you let people come out of the rubble, then they get to write part of the story too eventually, and Putin doesn't want that to happen.
VAUSE: Good point, the U.S. and allies have committed to sending more weapons, more lethal weapons to Ukraine. And that now seems to include fighter jets? I want you to listen to a very cryptic Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby, here he is.
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JOHN KIRBY, PRESS SECRETARY, PENTAGON: They have received additional platforms and parts to be able to -- to be able to increase their fleet size, their aircraft fleet size, I'm going to leave it at that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Platforms?
KIRBY: Platforms and parts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the platform?
KIRBY: Platform is an airplane, in this case. I'm -- they have received additional aircraft and aircraft parts to help them, you know, get more aircraft in the air.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let's cut to the chase, platforms and parts. Are we talked about those MiGs which were offered by Poland a few weeks ago?
SCHMIDT: Yes, I think those or you know, having travelled around Ukraine quite a lot in the last few years, you know, you find broken down MiGs everywhere. And so, some of those, you know, take apart and put parts in there. And you might have, you know, three or four flying airframes out there.
So, you know, by hook or by crook, we're putting aircraft in Zelenskyy's hands. And that's what he's been asking for all along. He said, I need tanks. I need armor and I need aircraft. And we're finally listening.
The question is, if we can do it fast enough, because, you know, Varennikov on the Russian side, the new general is pushing to hit that May 9 deadline for victory day in Moscow.
VAUSE: Yes, also, just on the issue of tanks, the Czech Republic has said it will access -- publicly declared that will repair Ukrainian tanks and armored vehicles which have been damaged in combat. That's a significant increase in level of commitment by a member of NATO.
SCHMIDT: Yes, in the end, when you look at the numbers, I was just reading, Ukraine has more tanks now than it did at the start of the war, even accounting for their losses because they've captured tanks. They're getting tanks from the west.
And I think really significantly, the U.S. has agreed to send over up armored Humvees. And those kinds of vehicles in the right conditions will operate, you know, essentially as tanks will, you know, in these eastern battle grounds where we're fighting against infantry.
VAUSE: Also, very quickly, I want you to listen to the U.S. president Tuesday, he was asked about additional weapons, additional firepower and artillery for Ukrainian, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, will you be sending more artillery to Ukraine?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, so he's on the record. Yes. In the next 24 hours, the White House could announce another $800 million in military aid. But this will be the last -- what's known as a presidential drawdown, the last time they could do a presidential drawdown because Congress will need to approve additional funding after this.
Under a presidential drawdown weapons and equipment are pulled from existing U.S. inventories, which indicate at the very least from this point on possibly the pace of weapons supplies would slow simply because it's got to go through Congress, they've got to get approval for more funding, what would you expect?
SCHMIDT: That's right, and this is about speed. So, the idea is, is that this is over before we need to put, you know, another bill in place to send more weapons there, that this comes down to one thing in the end, the new general on the eastern front for Russia has no experience fighting against competent conventional forces.
He's obliterated people in Syria and in Chechnya, and he doesn't know what to do. He won't know what to do with competent Ukrainian forces that have sufficient weapons. And that's what he's going to face.
And so, this is going to be, you know, a battle royal in the East. And the question is, is when he returns to norm and starts engaging in the obliteration of cities because he won't be able to effectively compete on the battlefield.
He does not have the kind of junior leadership that he needs to engage in offensive operations for any length of time, because of the losses that Russia has taken over the last two months and he will not get competently trained junior leadership for the next, you know, 60 to 90 days.
So, we're talking to drag this thing out until July, August, September and that's why we're throwing all the ammunition and guns and tanks we can right now.
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VAUSE: From what you're saying, it sounds like it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. Matthew SCHMIDT, thank you so much for being with us, sir. We really appreciate it.
SCHMIDT: My pleasure.
VAUSE: And I'll be back later this hour. Meantime, Paula Newton is up after the break with details on the confusion with the new mask mandate ruling in the United States with public transportation.
And Britain's partygate scandal. It's not going anywhere. Apologies from Boris Johnson and calls for a new investigation demands for the prime minister's resignation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, LEADER OF THE LABOUR PARTY: But the damage is already done. The public have made up their mind. They don't believe a word the Prime Minister says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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NEWTON: The U.S. Justice Department says if the Centers for Disease Control determine masks are necessary for public health, it in fact will appeal to revive the mask mandate.
Now, a U.S. judge if you'll remember struck down the mask mandate for public transportation. Taking airlines and passengers by surprise in critical ways. Major airlines quickly made masks optional. But not all city transit systems and airports followed suits. CNN's Pete Muntean reports on what is the ongoing confusion about masks.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Masks will be optional this evening for all crew and passengers as well.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On board celebrations across the country but also confusion within the travel industry that is facing a new patchwork of mask rules. Some airports will still require masks such as New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia, even though nearby Newark Airport will not.
Mask will also be required on New York subway system as well as other mass transit systems that impose their own rules.
SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: This was not an orderly shift. This is not the way that you move public policy.
MUNTEAN: The sweeping new changes come during a spring break travel search. The latest TSA numbers say more than 11 million people flew nationwide over the long Easter weekend with what could be a huge summer travel season on the horizon, the CDC remains firm on its guidance, telling travelers to continue to wear masks, even in the absence of a federal mandate.
DR. LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: Just because this ruling was made by a judge, doesn't mean that suddenly the science has changed.
MUNTEAN: In her decision, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle likened the mandate to detention and quarantine. The U.S. airlines that had previously banned thousands of passengers for violating mask rules are now letting them decide for themselves with mask optional policies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without (PH) the mask, I feel very safe especially since airplanes are one of the safest indoor places.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even in traveling here in Benin downtown in New York and everybody not wearing -- able to not wear masks and things, I felt much more comfortable keeping mine on.
MUNTEAN (on camera): United Airlines alone banned about thousand passengers from its flights for not following mask rules. Now, the airline says some of those passengers will one day be able to fly again. United says it's reviewing those incidents on a case by case basis.
But remember, mask have been a huge driver of unruly incidents on board commercial flights. The latest FAA data says about 70 percent of all incidents reported by flight crews this year have been because of mask.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: The COVID death toll meantime in China is rising. Chinese health officials say at least 17 people have now died from COVID-19 in Shanghai since the current outbreak started. Seven new deaths were reported on Tuesday alone.
Now, most of the city as we've been telling you has been under lockdown for weeks, as China doubles down on its zero COVID policy.
Lockdown has sparked widespread anger, crippled supply chains and resulted in shortages of food and essential supplies.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following the story for us from Hong Kong, more COVID deaths as you were just saying reported in Shanghai, although the numbers remain curiously low. Can you tell us about that?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula, locked down Chinese mega city of Shanghai is reporting more deaths caused by COVID-19. Earlier today, the city's municipal government reported an additional seven deaths caused by the virus, so the total official death toll is around 17 in this mega city of 25 million.
It was of course on Monday earlier this week when the first three fatalities were reported in this ongoing and massive outbreak that has infected nearly half a million people since March.
So, that very low official death toll has been raising a lot of questions among netizens across China and also among health experts outside of mainland China, especially here in Hong Kong.
Look at the peak of the ongoing fifth wave of infection here in Hong Kong, this city recorded more deaths per million people than any other country or territory around the world. So, why is it that Shanghai has such a low official death toll?
Well, according to one expert, Jin Dongyan of the University of Hong Kong, he says it has to do in part with the way Mainland China counts COVID deaths. We'll bring up the statement for you. Jin Dongyan virologist in the University of Hong Kong saying this quote on the mainland, "If the deceased had underlying ailments, most of them would be categorized as having died of other diseases instead of COVID".
I should point out that Shanghai is home to a very vulnerable population. In fact, according to the People's Daily, the state run media outlet, the Communist Party mouthpiece, it says that only 15 percent of those over the age of 80 are fully vaccinated, back to you.
NEWTON: Yes, a terrible statistic there and I'm still so struck by what you said about the death toll in Hong Kong itself. Now, cases have been falling there. The city remains vigilant this time with more flight suspensions?
[00:25:10] STOUT: Yes, so cases are falling here in Hong Kong, schools have resumed back on campus starting tomorrow. We know that social distancing rules will be relaxed and yet, it is extremely difficult still to fly in and out of Hong Kong. As Hong Kong authorities banned airlines, banned flights for carrying infected passengers. We've learned that nearly a dozen flight routes operated by 10 different airlines have been banned. These include flights coming from places like London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, New Delhi, even Singapore.
Let's show you this graphic and it shows you just the sheer number of affected airlines. You got Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, Qatar, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the list goes on.
The bans have added an extra layer of uncertainty and anxiety for passengers and would be travelers. It also of course erodes the international travel status. The international business status of Hong Kong, back to you.
NEWTON: Yes. And just when the city is trying to get back up on its feet. Kristie, appreciate the update. Thanks so much.
STOUT: You got it.
NEWTON: Now, the British Prime Minister is apologizing again for violating COVID lockdown rules in 2020 by attending a birthday gathering thrown in his honor.
Now, Boris Johnson spoke to the House of Commons Tuesday but it was the first time since being fined by police for his role in the so- called partygate scandal.
The parliament will vote Thursday over whether there should be an investigation into claims he misled lawmakers about the lockdown gatherings. But analysts say the vote is unlikely to pass. Here's Mr. Johnson's apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I take this opportunity on the first available sitting day to repeat my wholehearted apology to the house.
Let me also say, not by way of mitigation or excuse. But purely purely because it explains my previous words in this house that it did not occur to me then or subsequently, the day gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on COVID strategy could amount to a breach of the rules.
STARMER: What a joke. Even now, as the latest mealy mouth apology stumbles out of one side of his mouth. A new set of deflections and distortions pour from the other. But the damage is already done. The public have made up their mind. They don't believe a word the prime minister says, they know what he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: OK, so to follow up, the opposition leader there urged him to step down and a recent Snap Poll found six in 10 British adults also want him to resign, six in 10.
But here's the thing, only one in 10 actually believes that he will. Boris Johnson is the first sitting Prime Minister found to have broken the law. And remember, those are laws his government created.
Just ahead, CNN returns to Bucha where the local coroner's office has a seemingly endless task, recovering the victims of Russia's invasion.
And what's being condemned in Kyiv is being commended in Moscow if you can believe it. Details on the military unit being honored by Vladimir Putin as it faces war crimes accusations in Ukraine.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Forever, the Russian army will be written in history as the most barbaric and inhumane army in the world.
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VAUSE: That was the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his nightly address to the nation. He also called Russia a source of evil and said targeting of civilians has now become its trademark.
This comes as a Russian military unit accused of war crimes in Bucha is being honored by Vladimir Putin. The Russian president signed a decree Monday giving the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade the title "Guards" and praising the unit for showing, quote, "great heroism and courage."
What Moscow calls valor, Ukrainians call murder. CNN's Phil Black reports now from Bucha, where authorities and families continue to recover the victims from Russia's "heroism." Warning: parts of his report are disturbing.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Morgues aren't supposed to be busy. Or so overcapacity that you need a team of volunteers to move bodies around and large mobile refrigerators to accommodate them.
This is one of seven sites in and around Kyiv, working to cope with the tide of death left behind by Russia's retreating forces.
(on camera): Now, there's still more bodies coming.
ANDRII BILYAKOV, FORENSIC MEDICINE PROFESSOR, BOGOMOLETS NATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY: Coming, yes, a lot. Every day at morning. BLACK (voice-over): Andrii Bilyakov normally teaches forensic
medicine. Now, he's a full-time volunteer, performing endless autopsies.
(on camera): How many murders have you seen?
BILYAKOV: Murders, I think near to 30 percent is executed.
BLACK (voice-over): By his definition, that means 30 percent of the people in these bags have deliberate gunshot wounds to the head.
We witnessed a continuous cycle. Shuffling bodies from vehicles to storage, to autopsy, to storage, and ultimately, preparation for burial.
Usually, it will be their second. Most have been exhumed from temporary graves. Families buying new clothes for those they've lost as a gesture of love and respect. But they often go unworn. They can only be laid inside the coffin. The condition of the bodies means dressing them is impossible.
[00:35:15]
Among those lying here, waiting to be collected, is Roman Lieper (ph). His family says he was killed when munitions struck his home in a small remote village. Roman's wife, Victoria, survived, only to endure a form of hell. Intense fighting when she couldn't escape the house.
Victoria's brother, Ihov (ph), says, "My sister had to step over her husband's body for two weeks. She had to go through it to get to food or water. The room is still covered in blood. She is very bad now. Very bad. I don't know how she will live with this loss."
Others who grieve are living through a different form of hell. They can't find the body of the person they love.
Volodymyr (ph) is searching for his brother, Leonid (ph). He shows us where he was shot and killed, where he was buried in a shallow makeshift grave before officials exhumed the body and took it away.
So, Volodymyr (ph) has taken leave from active duty to travel through devastated communities, going from morgue to morgue, but no one can help. Eventually, he's directed to a police office with a central list of the dead. He's told his brother probably hasn't been processed yet.
Volodymyr (ph) must return to the war. He doesn't know when he'll be able to come back, even if Leonid's (ph) body is found.
"It hurts a lot," he says. "It hurts a lot, but we don't give up."
Russia has left so much death behind in areas near Kyiv some people must wait their turn to grieve.
Phil Black, CNN, Bucha, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: The longer this war goes on, the more atrocities there will be. When we come back, countries which could intervene do not, making those words, "never again," seem hollow. We'll have more on that in a moment.
And I will have a lot more from Ukraine at the top of the next hour. You're watching CNN.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You know the phrase: "never again." And it's most famously associated with the Nazi Holocaust and its remembrance day.
But it's also been used to express outrage over more recent atrocities. Everything from the massacres in Colombia, Rwanda, and Syria, to the burgeoning allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.
CNN's Jake Tapper recently spoke exclusively with the Ukrainian president and asked whether he believed in the world's "never again" commitment to preventing genocide. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): The only belief there is, is belief in ourselves, in our people. Belief in our armed forces, and the belief that countries ware going to support us, not just with their words, but with their actions. And that's it.
(in English): Never again.
(through translator): Really, everybody is talking about this, and yet, as you can see, not everyone has got the guts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: A reminder there that Zelenskyy is a Jewish president.
Now, we have others here at CNN who share the president's perspective. In a recent op-ed, our CNN analyst put it like this: "It's long past time we level with ourselves about how little we have done and are prepared to do. Sadly, 'never again' has become 'ever, ever again.'"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Aaron David Miller is a global affairs analyst and a former negotiator for the State Department. He joins me now from Washington.
And your opinion piece was timely, it's provocative, and it is so because it is top of mind for so many, right? Those words, they keep bringing in our heads: "never again." Generations of us after World War II were clearly naive.
And you point out that, look, the phrase "never again" implies action. And yet, we're not seeing that action right now.
AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No, in fact, the historical record makes clear that intervention to stop mass killing, let alone genocide, has been the exception, rather than the rule, both for the United States, of course, and for the international community. From the Nazi Holocaust, to Cambodia, to Rwanda, to Darfur, to Congo, to Sudan, to Syria, to Myanmar, to the Uyghurs, and now, playing out in front of our eyes, the cruelty and barbarity of the -- of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine is leaving in its wake a series of atrocities, war crimes.
And yes, President Biden called it genocide. Without many good options, frankly, for preventing what is going to be large numbers of civilian deaths and injuries during the course of this next phase of the Russian campaign in Ukraine.
And I -- I wrote that piece, because I was increasingly frustrated by the gap between our words, "never again," and our actions. I -- I said that it's not "never again" at all. It's "ever, ever again."
[00:45:11]
NEWTON: Yes, and it has been disappointing. And we have shameful proof of the failure.
In the last month, 96-year-old Borys Romantschenko was killed by a Russian strike in Kharkiv. He was a Holocaust survivor. His death confirmed by Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial Institute.
And in a tweet, they quoted him, by his very words as a survivor, quoting the Buchenwald oath, saying, "Creating a new world where peace and freedom reign." This does not look like a place where peace and freedom reign.
What does it tell us that in 2022, a survivor of multiple death camps dies in modern war?
MILLER: I think it shows both the -- the randomness, on one hand, and the cruelty of conflict.
In this case, the determination, willfulness, on the part of Mr. Putin to create a military campaign and accompany -- accompany it with the most brutal and savage attacks and disinformation.
I mean, the ironies here, as we discussed, really abound. You have a Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, presiding over a largely Orthodox Catholic country, being invaded by a Russian and his military force, accusing the Jewish president of being a Nazi, even while Mr. Putin and his military machine behaves as the Nazis did during the 1930s.
So I think the series of inconsistencies and anomalies and contradictions, which all translate, I'm afraid, into very poor options on the part of the United States, NATO, and the international community, in an effort to stop mass killings of civilians and -- and war crimes. NEWTON: And --
MILLER: The only option, Paula, would be a -- if you want to stop mass killing, the only option is to insert American military forces. A no- fly zone, create humanitarian zones, which would essentially mean a significant occupation of Ukraine, war with the Russians.
And the possibilities, however unimaginable they've been up until now, of an escalatory cycle that could -- and I certainly would not play fast and loose with this -- lead to the deployment of nuclear weapons, even tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
So I -- I just think the options are really bad right now.
NEWTON: And once again, those words "never again," repeated often, but here we are.
Aaron David Miller, thanks so much for your insights here. It's sobering, but we appreciate it.
MILLER: Paula, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Sobering indeed.
There's still more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including a warning for the global economy. The IMF says Russia's war in Ukraine will have seismic consequences almost everywhere in the world.
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[00:52:45]
NEWTON: The heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are calling for more emergency aid to help keep Ukraine's economy going. And that's ahead of their meeting Thursday with the country's prime minister and finance minister.
Now, the IMF has slashed its expectations for global economic growth over the next two years. And it's blaming Russia's war in Ukraine, saying higher inflation and supply chain issues are some of the earthquake-like ripple effect that will be felt worldwide.
Now rising inflation is causing food prices to spike right across Latin America. As Stefano Pozzebon shows us, it's hurting the region's most vulnerable people.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the slum of Pomplamalta (ph), in the outskirts of Lima, Elena Rodriguez did some shopping for her lunch service. Rodriguez works as a cook in a soup kitchen, preparing meals for some of the most vulnerable residents of the slum. But lately, even a simple soup has become too pricey. ELENA RODRIGUEZ, SOUP KITCHEN COOK (through translator): Before things
were accessible. Everything -- vegetables, potatoes -- now all of that is very expensive. Prices have gone up so much I don't know what to do anymore.
POZZEBON: Rodriguez said she started cutting down on meats to keep her cooking at an affordable price. But her situation is far from alone.
In the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, her colleague, Antonio Gilmar, has a similar recipe.
ANTONIO GILMAR, BRAZILIAN COOK (through translator): Poor people can only eat fish, sausages and chicken. They can forget about meat.
POZZEBON: Inflation triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and by rising oil prices around the world is hitting hard in Latin America, where millions are exposed to rising food prices with no safety nets to fall back on.
Peru's inflation in March reached the highest in 26 years, while Brazil had last seen these levels of inflation when it created a new currency to escape an inflationary wave in the 1990s.
In Argentina, along with export highs (ph) and hyper-inflation. President Alberto Fernandez launched a new offensive against an old foe.
ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): On Friday, we start a new war. It's the war against inflation.
POZZEBON: Prices are spiking just as economies were beginning to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
[00:55:06]
According to the United Nations, an additional 14 million Latin Americans have gone hungry since 2019.
And thousands have taken to the streets, in Brazil, where inflation will play a key role in the presidential elections later this year. But in Peru, where at least six people died during this general strike against rising fuel prices.
In Pomplamalta (ph), Rodriguez has managed somehow to fill her pots. And lunch will be served for now.
Outside her kitchen, the pots are empty, filled only with cries of anger: "Hunger awaits us."
Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton, here at CNN Center. I want to thank you for joining us.
John Vause will be back live from Lviv, Ukraine, right after the break. Stay with us.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
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