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U.S.: Russia Adds 17 Tactical Units In Past Week; Ukraine Releases Alleged Russian Communications Intercept; U.S. Justice Department Appeals Mask Mandate Ruling; Anger & Frustration In Shanghai Over COVID Lockdowns; Macron, Le Pen Clash In Debate Ahead Of Presidential Runoff; Tanzania's Lion Hunters Turned Protectors; Johnny Depp Testifies in Case Against Ex-Wife Amber Heard. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 21, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:22]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause live in Ukraine, where the fall of the city of Mariupol could just be hours away. The urge and rush now to get more than 100,000 civilians to safety.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: And live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be covering some of our other top stories including the Biden administration appealing a ruling that strikes down mandatory masks in planes, trains. We'll look at why health officials say unmasking is a mistake.
VAUSE: The government in Kyiv is hoping to try again in the coming hours to evacuate thousands of civilians from the decimated city of Mariupol. Two senior Ukrainian negotiators say they are ready to go there in person to make sure that it happens. Dozens of buses lined up Wednesday to evacuate women, children and the elderly. But Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister says this operation did not work as planned because Russia could not ensure a proper ceasefire.
As many as 1,000 civilians and an unknown number of soldiers are holed up in a steel factory with basic supplies now running low. And Ukrainian marine commander reports the city is under constant Russian bombardment. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 120,000 civilians are still trapped in Mariupol and the remaining troops do not have the heavy weapons needed to defend the city.
The Russian push to capture Mariupol is part of a larger offenses in the Donbas and Eastern Ukraine. And to the north, the military governor of Luhansk reporting 80 percent of the region now under Russian control. He says no places safe and Russian forces are destroying everything in their path.
Ukrainian troops fighting back even as Russia increases its troop numbers and firepower, adding 17 battalion tactical groups in just the past week. Images circulating on social media showing Russian forces have taken central Rubizhne and also the nearby village of Kreminna. But there are more signs of frustration to lack of leadership, poor morale and supply line issues within the Russian military.
Ukraine has released new audio of purported Russian communications intercepts and CNN's Jim Sciutto has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Russia's attacks on the east intensify, there is new evidence that some of its own soldiers have had enough. The Security Service of Ukraine releasing purported new intercepted communications among Russian soldiers.
One man recounting a conversation he had with his commander. He can be heard saying we asked the commander, quote, what shall we do? We got nothing. He says the commander told them, "F'ing shoot all the civilians to the end." And then warn the troops, "Whoever leaves their post will be a deserter." That's when another soldier on the recording can be heard saying, "Tell them to F-off."
As the conversation continues, the soldier then complaining that Russia has all been abandoned there, saying, "Just imagine they didn't provide a way to retreat. Didn't say anything, didn't even bring food. F* them."
CNN cannot vouch for the authenticity of the recording. But Ukraine has previously released audio of Russian soldiers and Russian troops have used unsecured lines of communication, according to military observers.
As the war enters its 56 day, new images reveal how the situation in Mariupol is getting worse by the hour. Bodies piling up from the nonstop shelling and fear-street fighting. Human remains lining the streets, some with bullet holes in their backs. Others killed by missile strikes.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the slaughter is the worst Ukraine has witnessed.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Crimes that are happening there are far more scary and in larger scale than in Borodyanka.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Borodyanka, the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops killed numerous civilians and left behind utter destruction. The President of the European Council visiting the town today and meeting with Zelenskyy saying that Russia's assault has left him speechless.
CHARLES MICHEL, EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT: There are no words in order to explain what I feel, not as President of the European Council but as father, as human being. These are atrocities. These are war crimes. It must to be punished, it will be punished.
(END VIDEOTAPE) [01:05:05]
VAUSE: Peter Layton is a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute. He joins me now from Brisbane, Australia for more all of this. So Peter, Russian forces have added 17 battalion tactical groups in the past week, four more BTGs just in the last 24 hours. How significant is that in terms of troop numbers and firepower?
PETER LAYTON, VISITING FELLOW, GRIFFITH ASIA INSTITUTE: Hello, John. Certainly, a lot more numbers and a lot more firepower. So they are continuing to try to grind the Ukrainian forces down. By the same token, some of those BTG groups are not likely to be fully manned. And they might have some fairly dubious manpower there.
There are reports now about the Syrian and Libyan troops being hired by the Wagner mercenary group. So some of those BTGs may be marginal.
VAUSE: At this point, with the offensive already underway, you would have assumed that they have all their ducks in a row before beginning this offensive. There'll be no need to be adding significant manpower at this point in the game.
LAYTON: It would seem that that this is a sudden rush. Russia hasn't prepared very well for this offensive from a military viewpoint. They seem to be being driven by the Victory Day on May the 9th. And it seems that President Putin wants a victory of some kind on that day. Already, Russia has announced they'll be holding a victory march through Mariupol on May the 9th. So they are driven by that date.
VAUSE: We're just a few days and really say it's early days, but from what we understand is that the Russians have made no territorial gains, at least according to U.S. sources. Mariupol is still standing, it's still not completely under Russian control that may change within hours. But, you know, they laid besieged to it for two months now, almost two months. It does not seem that this is playing out according to the Russians -- the Russian side, Russian plan, does it?
LAYTON: Very, very much so. Certainly at the present time, I think that President Putin is casting around for some way to a scrape together some form of victory here. So the anticipation, of course, is that around May the 9th, he will just declare victory, if you like, at that Victory Day March, and try for a ceasefire around that particular time. So the offensive at the moment, he's aiming to capture as much ground as possible. And then once having captured, keep it.
VAUSE: We just heard Jim Sciutto reporting on some of these intercepts of the Ukrainian security services have released the conversations between Russian soldiers. I want you to listen to part of another exchange. Here we are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We sat there for three days without -- anything. Our commanders, they receive provisions, cigarettes, food, and our command have all -- off. They abandon everyone and -- off. We don't even know where they are. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, we cannot confirm the authenticity of that recording, we don't know when it was recorded, but the point here is that there doesn't seem any real reason to doubt that it's genuine. And it would seem that the Russians have a lot more than morale issues, they have some real leadership problems as well.
LAYTON: They have a whole host of problems with low logistics and morale and willpower, but they're hoping that numbers make up for all of those deep deficiencies. At the end of the day also, the Russians have a lot of artillery pieces. So hoping that firepower makes up for the weakness in their troops.
As we've seen from their attack on the cities, they do like using a lot of firepower and the end they don't care about the accuracy of that firepower. And who that kills.
VAUSE: Well, let's gets back against the Director General Alexander Dvornikov, the Russian field commander. He, in Syria, he proved that he's good at killing civilians. He's good at using chemical weapons on mums and dads and kids. Is he out of his depth when it comes to a fight against a relatively well-trained, determined national military?
LAYTON: He's fighting a completely different war. You're right. He is fighting a Syrian war in Europe. It's still having its effect, though, in that President Putin wants to devastate parts of the Ukraine. He certainly is devastating the cities and causing a lot of depopulation of the cities and creating large refugee streams.
It's all part of a plan, but it's a bit of a twisted plan. And as I said, I think that what they're looking for mainly, is just to capture territory, because you can't think that they will actually rebuild any of these cities they have captured. They will just simply leave them because they don't think Russia has the money for that kind of reconstruction.
VAUSE: Although well, I guess as well, like when it comes down to it, but Peter Layton, as always, thank you, so we appreciate you being with us.
LAYTON: Thanks, John. Good day.
[01:10:06]
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the mask mandate for public transportation is still needed. So the U.S. Justice Department is appealing Monday's court ruling which struck down the mandate. Airlines and transit agencies have already moved to make masks optional. But the appeal is also aimed at preserving the CDC's authority going forward.
Jeremy Diamond has details.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Two days after a federal judge struck down the federal mask mandate for travelers, the CDC announcing that it is asking the Justice Department to appeal that ruling by a federal judge. Now, the Justice Department just a day earlier, they had said that they would indeed move forward with an appeal if the CDC deemed it necessary. And that is now what is happening.
This is the statement from the CDC. They say, "To protect CDC's public health authority beyond the ongoing assessment announced last week, CDC has asked DOJ to proceed with an appeal. It is CDC's continuing assessment that at this time, an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health."
Now the CDC also says here that they are going to continue to monitor public health conditions as it relates to the necessity of this mask mandate going forward. But what's really interesting here is that the CDC is explaining its rationale on two fronts. On the one hand, they're saying that, look, we believe the conditions right now in the country make it necessary for this mask mandate to still be standing for travellers to be required to wear masks on planes, for example, as well as trains and other modes of public transportation.
But what they're also saying is that they're appealing this decision in order to preserve that legal authority that they had to institute this mask mandate in the first place. And the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, she made this point earlier on Wednesday as well, when she said that look, there are going to be highs and lows in this pandemic and that should there be some kind of a new variant of a more serious strain or an uptick in cases once again, that the CDC wants to retain that authority, that legal authority to be able to reinstitute that mask mandate if necessary.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
BRUNHUBER: A new poll finds a majority of American adults favor mask requirements for people traveling on planes, trains and public transit. Only 24 percent oppose the mandate and 20 percent were neutral on the issue. The poll was conducted just before the judges struck down the mandate.
Shanghai reported more than 18,000 new COVID cases Wednesday and eight new deaths although some factory employees are beginning to go back to work, but anger and frustration are growing among those still under lockdown. Have a look here at this new social media video shows an elderly woman who appears to have left quarantine trying to enter a neighborhood. Now she's seen arguing with COVID workers who are trying to force her to go back to the quarantine center.
And of course, she's not the only one tired of being under quarantine or locked down in Shanghai. CNN's David Culver looks at the tense situation there as China doubles down on zero-COVID policy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shanghai residents pushing back after nearly three weeks of lockdown. These videos circulating on social media show people confronting police for being forced from their homes. These are not folks with COVID-19 but rather people whose apartments are being turned into government quarantine facilities to cope with a surge in COVID cases.
The rising tensions come as Chinese officials vowed to send every positive case of COVID-19 and any close contact to government quarantine, no matter the age. Here you see an elderly man shuffling towards a group of other senior citizens, some in their 90s, most in wheelchairs transferred from their nursing home to this isolation facility after testing positive.
Videos shared from inside another center shows elderly patients seemingly left unattended. Cots set up in the halls with wooden boards and thin sheets as bedding.
Since the start of this outbreak in early March, more than 400,000 cases have been reported in the city, according to China's National Health Commission. And most in this metropolis of more than 25 million people are still in strict lockdown. CNN's been living through it. We've mostly been sealed inside our homes, let out only for mandatory COVID tests and the occasional government distribution of groceries.
Last week, we had a brief taste of freedom. I could step out of my apartment and walk all the way to the compound gate, still double locked. But since a reversal for our community, new restrictions have a sealed back inside our properties. The draconian and inconsistent policies coupled with a constant uncertainty, weigh heavily.
People tired, pushing back physically and through words.
[01:15:01]
These banners appeared on the streets of Shanghai in a cover of night. This one calling residents to resist the limitless locked down. This one reading, "People are dying," referring to the dire struggle to secure food and medical care.
Online, a flood of frustration surfacing on China's heavily controlled internet. On Chinese social media platform Weibo, users began quoting the first sentence of China's national anthem. It reads, "Rise, those who don't want to be enslaved." a rally called no longer aimed at foreign oppressors, but rather Beijing's pandemic response and its harsh restrictions.
That line now censored. Some residents even boldly calling out Chinese officials for a perceived hypocrisy. This person wearing the photo of one of China's Foreign Ministry spokespersons who repeatedly accused Western governments COVID response of harming people's wellbeing. The sarcastic critique shared repeatedly online.
The backlash likely to worsen as the week's long lockdown drags on, further damaging China's economic engine.
YANZHONG HUANG, SR. FELLOW FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Implementing this strategy by excessive manner by itself could lead to exactly what the zero-COVID strategy wants to avoid.
CULVER (voice-over): The growing dissent calls into question China's zero-COVID strategy at a critical time. Later this year, President Xi Jinping is expected to assume an almost unprecedented third term, paving the way for him to rule for life. But the highly anticipated coronation now marred by discontent over a policy so closely tied to the people's leader.
David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Up next, in France, the two candidates in Sunday's presidential run off meet for the first and only debate and it was a contentious one. We will have the details.
And later, Russia tests a new long range nuclear weapon that Vladimir Putin says will make Russia's enemies think twice about attacking. Stay with us.
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[01:21:13]
BRUNHUBER: Well these are new images of the British Prime Minister arriving in western India. He's there for two days to discuss investments and the war in Ukraine but he has a mess waiting for him back at home. The party gate scandal and loud demands for his resignation have yet to die down.
On Wednesday, he apologized yet again for violating his own government's COVID lockdown rules and humbly vowed to get on with the job. In the coming hours, Parliament is slated to debate whether a committee should investigate his conduct and whether he misled lawmakers. Now despite all this, Boris Johnson reportedly told journalists on the way to India, he has every intention of running again in the next election.
The French presidential candidates clashed in a TV debate just days ahead of Sunday's runoff election for nearly three hours Wednesday. President Emmanuel Macron is far right challenger Marine Le Pen sparred over a range of topics including Russia, France's commitment to the E.U. and the economy.
CNN's Melissa Bell has the details from Paris.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the only debate of a campaign that has seen two very different visions for France pitted against one another. On one hand that of the incumbent, the centrist, globalist Emmanuel Macron, on the other that of the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen. The debate began on questions of domestic concern in particular, the cost of living, which has been central to Le Pen's campaign.
MARINE LE PEN, FAR-RIGHT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translation): Here again, I must be the spokesperson of the French people. Because Mr. Macron, I heard you with your government, you are delighted to have increased French people's purchasing power. But me, I only saw French people who told me about their problems with purchasing power. I only saw French people who told me they can't make it anymore. They can't get by, that they can't make ends meet at the end of the month.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): I am proud that all together we have made it possible to create 1.2 million payslips because I was looking at your program, you are 22 measures. There is not even the word unemployment in it, which is striking.
BELL: The war in Ukraine is another issue that has loomed large in the campaign so far, and that featured heavily in Wednesday night's debate with Emmanuel Macron attacking Marine Le Pen not only on her historic proximity to Vladimir Putin, but on her party's loan from a Russian bank back in 2014.
MACRON (through translation): You still haven't paid back that load.
LE PEN (through translation): It's quite long, Mr. Macron. Yes, we are a poor party but this is not shameful.
MACRON (through translation): But I never thought it's shameful. But my problem, Mrs. Le Pen, I hope you'll recognize is that all this creates a dependence.
LE PEN (through translation): I have no dependence other than repaying my loan, Mr. Macron.
MACRON (through translation): But your loan was not contracted with just any bank even for Russia. But with the interests, power, and everyone will be able to verify it. And so you need to own up to it. That's all, own up to it, Mrs. Le Pen.
BELL: From Russia, the candidates moved on to Europe. On one hand, Emmanuel Macron, the pro-European Federalist, on the other Marine Le Pen, who, while she's come back a little bit from her more Euro skeptic positions of the last few years still wants to see Europe reformed in order that it become a much looser alliance of sovereign nations.
LE PEN (through translation): Let me say to Emmanuel Macron, that there is no European sovereignty because there is no European people. There is a sovereignty when there's a people, there's a French sovereignty, there's no European sovereignty. And I've understood that you wish to replace French with European sovereignty. You've done it symbolically by replacing the French flag with a European one under the Arc de Triomphe.
[01:25:07]
MACRON (through translation): Changing a club on your own, by reducing your membership fee, by saying, I choose my rules. Well, either the others follow you, because that's Europe, there are 27 of us around the table, or you go your own way. And what you describe in your program sounds like going your own way.
The second thing you propose is an alliance with Russia, which is amongst your priorities. It's always in your program. It's amazing.
BELL: In 2017, Marine Le Pen was widely seem to have lost the election on the night of the debate. This time, she'd spent a couple of days preparing. And if the polls have been widening in favor of Emmanuel Macron, it seems that there is still everything to play for when France goes to the polls on Sunday. And as the debate reminded us, very much at stake.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
BRUNHUBER: More Western sanctions are on the way for Russia. The latest target individuals and banks trying to get around sanctions that are already in place. Those details just ahead.
Plus, some Russian oligarchs are growing tired of the war on Ukraine and their support of Vladimir Putin is waning. My colleague John Vause is live in Ukraine after the break with the details. Stay with us.
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[01:30:45]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine. 30 minutes past the hour.
The Kremlin has carried out a test launch of one of its newest and most advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of flying more than 6,000 miles or 10,000 kilometers and carrying a much bigger nuclear payload.
And the timing also notable. Vladimir Putin says the new missile should make Russia's enemies think twice.
CNN's Barbara Starr has more now reporting in from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russia releasing video of this intercontinental ballistic missile test, modernizing a key strategic weapon just as it presses forward with its new offensive in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin bragging that the launch was a momentous event.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied, aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country.
STARR: The RS-28 Sarmat missile, sometimes called the Satan 2, was revealed back in 2016. It's designed to replace a Soviet era model. Russia claims it can carry multiple nuclear warheads and has a range of more than 6,800 miles, making it potentially capable of striking the U.S.
Russia says the missile was launched Wednesday afternoon from northern Russia, traveling across the country to a test site in the Far East.
The Pentagon says the test was not a surprise.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They provided advanced notice of this launch under its New START treaty obligations that it planned to test this missile. The Defense Department said today that we did not deem the test a threat to the United States or its allies.
STARR: But a senior U.S. Defense official still said the launch was not something that would be done by a responsible nuclear power in the current tense environment.
As Putin's war in Ukraine drags on, Russia appears to be determined to proceed with its advanced weapons. The U.S. canceled a scheduled ICBM test earlier this month.
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're at a very tenuous point. We wanted to make sure that we are doing prudent things and managing escalation.
STARR (on camera): The question now, will the U.S. resume testing its own intercontinental ballistic missile?
Barbara Starr, CNN -- the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Russia is already flying a flag of victory over parts of Ukraine. but it is the Soviet victory flag from World War II which has been seen in parts of occupied areas.
This comes ahead of the May 9th deadline which is Russia's World War II victory day and a date which this year Putin is (INAUDIBLE) hoping to declare some kind of victory from this so far bungled war in Ukraine. A statue of former Soviet leader Lenin has also been installed outside a council building in the town of (INAUDIBLE).
The U.S. sanctions announced Wednesday once again targeting Russia's financial system as well as punishing a commercial bank said to be at the heart of the Kremlin's attempt to evade sanctions.
Russian companies that mine cryptocurrencies have also been targeted. And Visa restrictions imposed on more than 600 Russian individuals. Also sanctioned were dozens of individuals and shell companies who allegedly are part of a vast global network aligned with an already sanctioned oligarch.
Well, for some who are close to Vladimir Putin, being sanctioned by the west is a source of pride. But others, particularly the uber- wealthy oligarchs, are becoming tired of their assets being seized or frozen.
So could there be a threat to Vladimir Putin's hold on power?
CNN's Brian Todd takes a closer look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money is not everything --
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Russian billionaire and bank founder now lashing out against Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Oleg Tinkov, in an Instagram post, called the war insane. Says innocent people and soldiers are dying. Generals waking up with a hangover have realized they have a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) army.
Tinkov asked the West to give Mr. Putin a clear exit to save his face and stop this massacre.
NATE SIBLEY, KLEPTOCRACY INITIATIVE, THE HUDSON INSTITUTE: Oleg Tinkov is the first member of Russia's financial elite to speak out against the war directly and criticize Vladimir Putin.
It is significant because while others have spoken out, they have not targeted Putin himself.
[01:34:58]
TODD: Oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska (ph) have campaigned for peace, but avoided slamming Putin directly.
One oligarch Leonid Nevzlin has criticized Putin directly but Nevzlin renounced his Russian citizenship in a Facebook post last month.
LEONID NEVZLIN, RUSSIAN OLIGARCH (through translator): I do not accept this citizenship, my Russian citizenship with the fascist Putin at the helm.
TODD: Oleg Tinkov has been sanctioned by the U.K. There is a growing list of luxury toys allegedly belonging to Russian elites that have been seized following the start of the Ukraine war, including several super yachts confiscated in European ports.
The Amore Vero with multiple VIP suites and a pool that turns into a helipad, which French officials link to a sanctioned oil executive Igor Sechin. The Dilbar (ph) worth at least $600 million with one of the largest pools ever put on a yacht, about 80 feet long.
Believed to be owned by Russian mining magnate, Alisher Usmanov who also possessed what the U.S. Treasury called one of Russia's largest privately owned aircraft, an airbus 3:40 named Bourkhan after his father.
SIBLEY: A seizure of yachts and mansions and financial assets is placing increasing pressure on Russian oligarchs who reside overseas.
And that is why we are starting to see them speak out in this way.
TODD: But is this a turning point for Vladimir Putin? If he continues to lose support from the oligarchs, could his hold on power be legitimately threatened? STEVE HALL, FORMER CIA HEAD OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS: They have become
politically less important, economically still somewhat important but not as important as others from say the security services who are closer to the decision-making and closer to Vladimir Putin.
TODD (on camera): Analysts say Putin started several years ago to replace the oligarchs in his closest inner circle with people from his own background -- elites from Russia's intelligence services and military.
One analyst says, among those Putin cronies, getting sanctioned by the west as a badge of honor. And he doesn't expect any of them to stage a palace coup anytime soon.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I will see you back here at the top of the hour but for now, my colleague Kim Brunhuber is up in Atlanta.
He will be waiting outside actually -- about details about a Syrian- American doctor who keeps buying one-way tickets to Ukraine. Top doctors there tend to the wounded. His heartwarming story in a moment.
[01:37:17]
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Today on "Call To Earth" we have this second on our special report on big cats under threat around the world.
Rolex awards Laureate Shafqat Hussain is our guest editor on "Call to Earth" for this quarter and he's chosen this story on how conservationist Amy Dickman has enlisted the help of a Tanzanian tribe in protecting one of the most significant lion populations left on earth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEFQAT HUSSAIN, CNN GUEST EDITOR: Sunrise on the edge of Ruaha National Park. Here in central Tanzania, livestock is life.
STEPHANO ASECHEKA, BARABAIG TRIBE: Our tribe believes (INAUDIBLE) is part of the family, and we cannot live without them.
HUSSAIN: Another day, another deadly threat for livestock and people.
Stephano Asecheka (ph) is part of a little known Barabaig, a little known tribe with a long history with lions.
ASECHEKA: in our tribe, our customs, our traditions raise us to have pride in killing a lion as a young man. And we are made to believe that once you kill one, it at least reduces the threat. HUSSAIN: Traditionally, young warriors like these would gain rewards and status from killing lions. Part of the Lion Defenders Program, Asecheka is showing them ways to protect the tribe, while preserving the pride.
ASECHEKA: Lion Defenders work in the village areas, and their task is survey the borders early in the morning for lion tracks and to inform elders of the (INAUDIBLE) areas.
HUSSAIN: The Lion Defenders are part of Ruaha Carnival Project founded by Amy Dickman in 2009. When she first came here four years previously, things were bad.
AMY DICKMAN, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: It was the highest rate of lion killing that have been detected in East African in modern times.
HUSSAIN: She said she had to work hard to gain the tribe's trust.
DICKMAN: We said we are just here to find out why you're killing these lions. And if there is a way you can achieve whatever you achieve through it through conservation rather than killing.
HUSSAIN: And eventually, persistence paid off.
DICKMAN: They really opened up to us and since then, it has really been a transformative relationship. And working with them (INAUDIBLE).
We certainly know the lion killings have decreased by over 70 percent in the core area that we are working in.
HUSSAIN: The project offers financial incentives to protect lions by funding community services like education, doctors and vets.
[01:44:55]
DICKMAN: We would love to collaborate with you guys.
HUSSAIN: Dickman and her team have joined forces with other conservation projects in Kenya and Zambia to form a larger nonprofit, Lion Landscapes.
DICKMAN: It really can be a way of uplifting people and making sure that wildlife is a way to get out of poverty as well.
HUSSAIN: Asecheka also gives tours of the park to help his tribe see wildlife from a new perspective.
ASECHEKA: Many people love seeing animals, even the locals who used to hunt them want to see the lions. They feel a sense of ownership and get to understand the right reasons for why we are protecting lions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Let us know what you are doing to answer the call with the hashtag Call To Earth.
We will be back after a short break.
[01:45:59]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: Actor Johnny Depp returned to the stand in a Virginia court in his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard. He described their relationship and how it change, accusing Heard of calling him names and making demeaning comments. Depp also said that an argument between the two in 2015 ended with him seeking medical care. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: She threw the large bottle, and it made contact and shattered everywhere. Then I looked down, and realized that the tip of my finger had been severed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a 2018 "Washington Post" op-ed when she wrote about her experience with domestic abuse. Even though she did not name him, Depp claimed it cost him film work.
A Syrian-American doctor living in Texas knows all too well the effect war has on a country's health system. Dr. Monzer Yazji has made more than 30 trips to his home country of Syria to help ease the heavy burden put on medical professionals there. And now he is risking his life to help fellow doctors in war-ravaged Ukraine.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story of a man who keeps buying one-way tickets to war zones.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. MONZER YAZJI, SYRIAN-AMERICAN DOCTOR: Whenever I travel to war zones and I leave my home, always I do one way ticket.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Dr. Monzer Yazji, is getting ready for a journey he has made before. His third trip from his home in Edinburg, Texas to eastern Ukraine.
DR. YAZJI: As a physician first, it is our duty and our ethics to help every needed person in the world.
DR. GUPTA: I understand that feeling. I have been in war zones and disaster zones as a reporter. Monzer and I were in Haiti at the same time in 2010. At times, I have felt compelled to help.
(on camera): How much do you worry now about your own safety?
DR. YAZJI: Every time I go back, I say this is maybe the last time I will be going. When I decide to come, it is a lot of fear. And in a minute, I remember my promise and the people lost a life, I see their children not seeing them.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Yazji, a Syrian American, ran over 30 medical missions since 2011 to help his homeland during the catastrophic war there. But even as the conflicts continue in Syria, he finds himself in a similar situation in another country.
DR. YAZJI: What is happening in Ukraine, it happened in Syria. I feel myself that I am a part of it.
DR. GUPTA: Nearly two months of war and at least 119 attacks on clinics and hospitals have left the Ukrainian health system in disarray and desperately in need of outside help.
DR. YAZJI: These hospitals, which have been attacked by the Russians army --
DR. GUPTA: Dr. Yazji spent the next five days in an almost constant blur of action.
(on camera): I wonder if you can just sort of describe what you are encountering. Is there not enough care to be given?
DR. YAZJI: A lot of high complexity surgeries, trauma-like -- we did the surgeries and (INAUDIBLE) for a person lost half of the upper posterior of our shoulder, of our heir arm, the chest, the upper chest -- this man survived.
DR. GUPTA: There are issues with water and electricity. There are shortages of medical supplies. Performing as many as half a dozen operations in a day, what Dr. Yazji and his Ukrainian colleagues are doing is in the context of things nothing short of miraculous.
One thing he learned in Syria is the need to perform skin grafts as soon as possible to reduce the risk of infection.
DR. YAZJI: This is the most challenging really kind of surgery because the faster you cover the bone, you facilitate healing and prevent infection.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): These are patients who have been injured in these explosions that we have been witnessing on television.
They may have loose skin. The may have fractured bones, they may need amputations and so you're talking about creating flaps to try and care for them, is that right?
DR. YAZJI: If we may save the amputation, you make a big difference in peoples lives.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Dr. Yazji does not just provide medical sport though, he provides a form of mental nourishments to the Ukraine doctors as well.
[01:54:53]
DR. YAZGI: When I see Ukrainian doctors suffering because, you know, there are exhausted mentally and physically and the attack on them I see as we were there. That is why this has all made me come to Ukraine and be with them.
DR. GUPTA: The morning after our call, he started for home. But leaving with a promise, that he will be back.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And if you would like to help people in Ukraine who may need shelter, food and water, please go to CNN.com/impact. From there, you can find several ways you can help.
All right. Thanks so much for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Kim Brunhuber. Our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues after the break.
Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:59:59]
VAUSE: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause live in Lviv, Ukraine.
To the south and to the east of here, Mariupol is on the brink.
