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Ukrainian Civilians and Military Still Holding Out in a Steel Mill in Mariupol; Residents in Shanghai, China Forced Into a COVID Lockdown; Far-Left Candidate Melenchon Emerges as Potential Kingmaker; The Horror of War Through the Eyes of a Teenager; Israeli Police Clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem; Johnson in India as Parliament Approves "Partygate" Probe. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 22, 2022 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world and here in the United States. Coming to you live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Michael Holmes. I appreciate the company. And we do begin with the breaking news out of Ukraine, a sprawling steel factory in Mariupol all that remains of Ukrainian forces defending that strategic port city.

The Azovstal complex is surrounded by Russian troops. It is constantly being shelled. But rather than storm the facility, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a blockade that, in his words, a fly can't even get through. Hundreds of men, women and children are believed sheltered inside with no way out, their only protection an unknown number of Ukrainian fighters vowing to stand their ground.

Now not far away, the grim discovery of more suspected graves. Mariupol officials estimate 20,000 residents have died so far, many of those bodies now believed to have been dumped in those long trenches you see there at the top of your screen.

Despite President Putin's boast of "liberating Mariupol," Ukraine denies the city has fallen and it's bizarre if that's what liberation looks like. The U.S. President Joe Biden says he has doubts about the Kremlin's claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's questionable whether he does control Mariupol. One thing for sure we know about Mariupol, he should allow humanitarian corridors to let people on that steel mill and other places that are buried under rubble to get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Civilian evacuation from Mariupol have been extremely difficult on the very start of this conflict, now they're almost nonexistent. Fewer than 100 people were able to reach the relative safety of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday. The mayor says many more are desperate to leave but cannot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VADYM BOYCHENKO, MARIUPOL, UKRAINE MAYOR (through translator): There are still a hundred thousand people in the city who, for the second day in a row, are waiting for evacuation. And they give just us a tiny number of buses. Like it was yesterday, they said there would be 90 buses, but only seven of them arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

For more, let's bring in our Isa Soares who is live for us in Lviv in Western Ukraine. Hi Isa.

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much. Hello, good morning Michael. Well, an unknown number of civilians and Ukrainian fighters have been sheltering in that Azovstal steel plant - steel factory that you were mentioning there. They've been there, really, for weeks. The owner says the situation inside is growing increasingly desperate with food as well as water running low. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURIY RYZHENKOV, CEO METINVEST HOLDING: When the war started, we have stocked quite - quite a good stocks of food and water in the bomb shelters and the facilities and the plants. So for some period of time, they were able to use it and basically survive on that. Unfortunately, all the things, they tend to run out, especially the food and daily necessities. So, I think now it's close to a catastrophe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, it's believed about 10,000 people worked at the steel plant prior to the invasion. The company has an employee hotline, and about 4500 employees have checked in. But, another 6000 people are unaccounted for, as per the CEO speaking to CNN.

While constant bombardment has really been a way of life for many left in Ukraine's battered cities, Russian, as well as Ukrainian forces, battle for control while civilians find themselves really in the middle, huddling for safety. Our Ben Wedeman takes us to the basement of a bombed-out theater where people are finding shelter and really little else.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: And it begins again. Hell rains down. A dozen people are hiding in the basement of a bombed-out theater in the town of Rubizhne.

Let it stop, oh lord, he says. Now there's incoming.

A white flag hangs outside to no effect. The theater above has been bombed and bombed again and again, yet they stay. [01:05:00]

Too poor, too old, too frightened to flee. Nina, 89 years old, has been here for five weeks. "I want to go home," she says. "I've suffered too much. I've seen the fire and the smoke, I've seen it all, I'm scared." Nina's plea, simple. "Help us, help us." Her daughter Ludmila (ph) struggles to comfort her. "We're praying to god to stop it," she says, "to hear us."

Ina (ph) says, "I have nowhere to go. I have no friends, no relatives." With the shelling intensifying, volunteers are finding it hard to deliver food. As Russian and Ukrainian forces fight for control of Rubizhne, there are people down there praying as hell rains down. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rubizhne, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Just so much heartbreak. While the primary combat unit of the Russian army is the Battalion Tactical Group, or BTG, the U.S. military believes 85 of these units are now in Ukraine, with three more added over the past 24 hours. The U.S. admits it doesn't know where they all are, but it has seen really a steady increase, they say, in Russia's strength in the Donbas.

Now Ukrainians have no illusions about what that will happen if they surrender. Ukrainian military intelligence says it intercepted rushing communications giving an order to kill Ukrainian's, POWs, specifically those in the Luhansk region. Have a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MAN (through translator): What can I tell you, damn it? You keep the most senior among them and let the rest of them go forever. Let them go forever, damn it, so that no one will ever see them again, including relatives.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SOARES: And CNN cannot verify the authenticity of that recording. I want to take a closer look at the military strategy aspect of this war.

We're joined by retired Army Major General, Mark MacCarley, and general thank you very much for taking time to speak to us tonight. I want to discuss, really, where we left off, and that's the addition of more battalion technical groups. What's difference, general, will this make on the ground as well as the challenges it may pose for the Ukrainian forces?

MARK MACCARLEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): It is - Isa, it's extremely significant because it characterizes the change in tactics of the Russians. As we remember three weeks ago, the Russians staged, what some folks would call, a blitzkrieg to Kyiv. The Russians were unsuccessful. Now with a change in tactics, the Russians have accumulated sufficient forces. The forces are put together in these BTRs, these battalion tactical units. And what I suspect is the tactic of choice for the Russians is slow,

methodical movement into Eastern Ukraine, taking out centers of resistance. There's no rush on the part of the Russians, except, perhaps, to get to some place that could be deemed a level of success in anticipation of the May 9th commemorative victory celebrations.

That's the change, and the Russians, again, have to time. The russians have the resources. The russians are close. Russia is continuous with Eastern Ukraine. And the Russians have one other benefit, and that is that a significant part of the Donbas region, as a result of Russian and Russian partisan activity in 2014, is under, essentially, Russian control right now and there are Ukrainians who are sympathizers with the Russians that makes it doubly difficult for the Ukrainian freedom fighters to gain traction in that part of the country.

SOARES: Yes, and on that point, in fact, Clarissa Ward, our Chief International Correspondent, her report tonight was very much on that. She hinted of that, and she spoke to some Ukrainians who actually were blaming the U.S., really. So it's very difficult for Ukrainian troops on the ground. It's very gray, and it's not as black and white as many have expected.

Let me ask you though, general, about the situation in Mariupol, incredibly dire. President Putin said in the last 24 hours that - you know, that Russian troops are not going to storm that Azovstal plant, but instead they're going to block it so no fly, I think he said, can get through.

[01:10:03]

I mean, what's Putin strategy here?

MACCARLEY: Oh my gosh. It's consistent with Putin's history, both in his own career and it culminates in his presidency of Russia. It really goes back to an understanding of Putin and Putin's really family experience in Leningrad, that's St. Petersburg. It was all about siege warfare. And it shouldn't be any sort of commendable statement on his part that he's not going to drive into Mariupol and bomb the heck out, at least now, of the steel mill.

Instead, he will put this corridor of steel and Russian forces around that steel mill and those parts of Mariupol that still offer resistance. That is nothing but siege warfare. The Germans did it to the soviets at Leningrad, St. Petersburg for 900 days.

Putin's father was up there in Leningrad, became one of the heroes of the Soviet Union, but that was siege warfare. Putin knows it's effective, and I guess he got some kudos from around the world by expressing this sympathetic statement that he would not immediately go in and annihilate the freedom fighters of Ukrainian's in the steel mill.

SOARES: Yeah, I mean, he probably - he knows exactly what they would face from that, from the - from the Ukrainians on the ground, and the fight that they will put up and the impact that will have on their troops. But where does this leave, general, the Ukrainian forces and the civilians that are still holed up inside? I mean, any chance of them getting out as they start, of course, to run out of food, start - run out of ammunition here?

MACCARLEY: Yeah. If the reports that we received thus far are even semi-accurate, and we have thousands of civilians, Ukrainian civilians holed up in that steel plant in the tunnels that are underneath the plant and as well the Ukrainian freedom fighters, but that food, water and ammunition are almost completely gone.

Those Ukrainians don't have, quite frankly, much of a chance, unless this, I used this phrase a couple of nights ago, that somehow the great cavalry out here in America, we call the cavalry, rushes in and saves the day. But there isn't any cavalry. There's no Ukrainian unit within striking distance that can break that siege.

There's no credible Ukrainian air force that can provide airdrops of additional supply and ammunition into the steel plant. So, unless there is a miracle, it appears that in due time, the Ukrainians will have to surrender.

And what that means, nobody knows. And if, as you suggested, at least with that snippet of information that radio communication is accurate, it's going to be a horrific event. But it typifies the manner in which the Russians have waged this war, this atrocity into Ukraine.

SOARES: Yeah, and so many of them inside that steel plant, general, are refusing to lay down their weapons. Yet, the Russians say it'll be three to four days. Many think, actually, it may be much longer because of the size, of course, of the complex. Retired U.S. Army Major General, Mark MacCarley, really appreciate your insights sir. Thank you, general.

MACCARLEY: Thank you.

SOARES: Well, as the Russian military moves through Ukraine, they are leaving more than just really destruction and heartbreak behind. Our Phil Black shows the dangerous weapons that remain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Weaving through the trees, this brave stretcher crew is carrying a delicate cargo. Not the wounded, but something with the potential to seriously wound or worse. They're collecting the active munitions Russian forces left behind.

This forest is scarred by battle. There's blackened earth and splintered trees pretty much everywhere. The Ukrainians said that rockets rained down on Russian positions here. This is what's left of a Russian weapon system. They say the battle may have lasted hours, but the cleanup will take much longer.

Here among the natural debris lies the dangerous end of a Russian Uragan rocket. This soldier says it's filled with cluster munitions. Those weapons are banned by more than 100 countries.

[01:15:00] This one, standing proud, shows why they must work quickly. When the soldiers last saw this damaged rocket, it was lying horizontally. Someone, foolish, lucky, and unqualified has lifted the warhead so it now points to the sky. The professionals carefully stretcher it away and add it to their growing collection. That was a single 500 pound bomb, and that's how you make it safe according to this disposal team. They've got two more to go.

They're air delivered bombs recovered from a downed Russian aircraft, and they're going to destroy both at the same time. The big ones are easy to find, and you get the feeling fun to destroy. Most of the effort hunting down mines and other abandoned ordinance is painfully thorough, careful work, scanning and prodding the earth with intense focus for hours at a time. B

ut there's urgency too because discarded and deliberately planted weapons are harming people weeks after the Russians left this territory. This truck hit a mine north of Kyiv, incinerating the driver. This emergency vehicle also ran over something explosive, injuring eight onboard. There are many painful legacies to Russia's brief presence in this part of the country. Ukrainians are working to ensure this one doesn't endure. Phil Black, CNN, in Ukraine's Kyiv region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: And I'll be back with more from Lviv in the next hour. But for now, I'm going to hand it back to Michael Holmes in Atlanta. Michael?

HOLMES: All right, Isa, good to see you. Thanks for that. And we're going to take a quick break here on the program. Emotions boiling over in Shanghai as residents are forced into a COVID lockdown. We'll have a live report when we come back.

Also a potential kingmaker in the French presidential race, how a candidate who didn't qualify for the runoff could tip the scales in Sunday's contest. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:21:30]

HOLMES: Shanghai reported 11 COVID deaths on Thursday. That brings the death toll to 36 in the latest outbreak. Frustration, though, boiling over as the city has been on lockdown for weeks, thanks to China's zero COVID policy, and that is taking a massive toll on residents and ex pats with no clear end on when the lockdown will be lifted.

Let's bring in CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief, Steven Jiang. Any death is regrettable, but given the city the size of Shanghai, that is not a big death toll and yet the impacts of this policy, enormous.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Michael. As you mentioned, this nightmare in Shanghai, it just seems to be never ending despite government propaganda's portrayal of an increasingly orderly and effective lockdown. You know, for days, government officials have said they were dividing

Shanghai into different categories, people in a high or medium risk areas where they have positive cases or close contacts in their communities will have to remain sealed in their homes.

But people in low risk areas are technically able to move about in their districts. But for the most part, that really has not happened because of the authorities worry of continued emergence of new infections if they're letting people out of their apartment complexes. And at the same time, of course, we are seeing them continue to ramp up their roundup effort of all positive cases and close contacts.

Now, of course, with that no exception allowed rule, they are rounding up more and more senior citizens, some in their 90s, many in wheelchairs, by forcibly removing them from their homes, at least in one instance dragging somebody out of her bed in the middle of the night, sending them into government run quarantine facilities which are often in very cramped and primitive conditions.

And then, of course, even on the food and supply side, despite repeated pledges from the authorities, many residents in the city still facing food shortages. And even those who have received government handouts are now reporting new problems, including many items in their packages appeared to have passed expiration dates or with problems that causing health issues, including food poisoning.

So all this management that resulted - and resulted chaos is really uniting millions of residents in the city, regardless of their age group or social economic background or even political views, and their frustration and anger with many of them increasingly asking how it is possible to go hungry or even dying due to the lack of access to food and medical care in China's biggest and wealthiest city.

And the answer, Michael, of course, as we know, is quite clear because the country's strawman leader has decided zero COVID is the way to go and it's here to stay. Michael?

HOLMES: All right. Thanks for the updates, Steven. Steven Jiang there in Beijing for us. Now in the United States, the debate over mask mandates continues. Starting Friday, masks will once again be required on public transport, Los Angeles County. Health officials cited CDC guidance that contradicts the recent federal court ruling striking down a mask requirement on mass transportation. Now Dr. Anthony Fauci says the court should never have been involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: For a court to come in, and if you look at the rationale for that, it really is not particularly firm. And we are concerned about that, about courts getting involved in things that are unequivocally public health decisions. I mean, this is a CDC issue. It should not have been a court issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:25:00]

HOLMES: The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday appealed the federal court ruling that struck down the mass transportation mask mandate.

The two French presidential candidates are about to make their final pitches to voters ahead of Sunday's runoff. President Emmanuel Macron will hold his last campaign rally a few hours from now. In a speech to voters near Paris on Thursday, he warned against normalizing far-right ideology in France. His far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, will hit the campaign trail in northern France. Friday is the last day of campaigning before voters head to the polls.

The contest, a rematch of a presidential runoff in 2017 when Mr. Macron easily beat Le Pen. But this time around, polls suggest a much closer race, even though the president still holds a small lead. Mr. Macron and Le Pen are going into the run-off after winning the top two spots, of course, in the first round of voting, but a candidate who ended up third in that round is now emerging as a potential kingmaker in the presidential contests. CNN's Jim Bittermann explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He didn't win, but he didn't exactly lose, either. The first round of the French presidential election, Jean-Luc Melenchon and his France Unbowed came in third. In the French system, not good enough to make the run-off round for the presidency, but he did manage to garner more than 20% of the votes cast, votes that could make the difference in sunday's election between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen.

So for days now, analysts have been pondering which candidate that Melenchon voters will support. Melenchon himself made it partially clear how he feels. Saying four times in his concession speech that his voters should certainly not choose Le Pen with her anti-immigrant, anti-Europe policies, but he did not suggest that they should vote for Macron, which leaves it an open question which way they'll go.

BRUNO CAUTRES, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Even if they have a lot of anger against Emmanuel Macron, they have a broad attitude, which is clearly anti Le Pen or a society of (inaudible) favorable to immigration when actually, Marine Le Pen is still extremely opposed to turning on society and immigration. So I believe that at the end of the day, the Melenchon voter will abstain and vote Macron.

BITTERMANN: Melenchon's voters, of course, can choose whichever candidate they please, and many may abstain or cast ineligible ballots. But what's Melenchon and his party are looking forward to, more importantly, is what the French call the third round in the elections, the elections in June to determine the makeup of the French legislature.

Melenchon himself said this week that if his supporters win enough seats in the parliament, he would be happy to serve as prime minister. Happy about that, as well, would be a long time Melenchon supporter who is already a deputy in the parliament.

Danielle Obono says it's hard to imagine many electors from her party would vote for Le Pen, but they are sufficiently angry with President Macron that even if he should win reelection, Melenchon's revolutionary left party will try to impede his reform plans.

DANIELLE OBONO, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBER, FRANCE UNBOWED: To implement as much as our program as possible, despite him having presidential power, we could use all the tools inside of, you know, the (inaudible) box, despite the fifth (inaudible) being a system that gives a lot to - too much power to the president.

BITTERMANN: In the end, which direction the Melenchon voters go could be crucial in determining who is the next president of France. And just a few weeks, those same voters could produce a legislature what could be very frustrating for a president's five years in office. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

HOLMES: And a programming note, as French voters go to the polls on Sunday for the second and final round of voting in that presidential election, do join us, Sunday, 8 P.M. Paris time, 2 P.M. in the Eastern United States for our special live coverage of the French elections right here on CNN.

Coming up here on CNN newsroom, Ukraine has been pleading with the west for heavy weaponry. Now, the U.S. rushing some of its biggest guns to the battlefield.

Also, the horrors of war through the eyes of a teenager, how the conflict is taking a toll on the Ukrainian youth. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:29:50]

HOLMES: Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Ukraine has been pleading with the west for heavy weaponry. Now, the U.S. rushing some of its biggest guns to the battlefield.

Also the horrors of war through the eyes of a teenager. How the conflict is taking a toll on Ukrainian youth.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world and here in the United States. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

The U.S. President Joe Biden says another $800 million package of U.S. military hardware is heading to Ukraine as quickly as possible. He also announced an additional $500 million to support the Ukrainian government.

Those weapons shipments include Howitzer cannons, 144,000 artillery rounds, and a type of attack drone the Pentagon tailored to Ukraine's needs.

[01:34:53]

HOLMES: The president invoked Teddy Roosevelt as he suggested the U.S. and its allies are doing more than they let on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We won't always be able to advertise everything we and our partners are doing to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom. But to modernize Teddy Roosevelt's famous advice -- sometimes you will speak softly and carry a large javelin because we're sending a lot of those in as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: In addition to the military aid, Ukraine needs money, lots of it, the president of the World Bank on Thursday put the current price tag at $60 billion, that's just the estimated cost of Ukraine's damaged buildings and infrastructure. But he added this figure does not account for the growing economic impacts that are hitting the country.

Ukraine's president spoke more about his country's economic needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): At this time, we need up to seven billion U.S. Dollars each month to make up for the economic losses. We would need hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild all of this later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now of course, the war's greatest cost is the lives that have been lost, graves being exhumed every day as the work of investigating war crimes continues. It's being witnessed, tragically, by Ukraine's children.

Ed Lavandera now with a look at how one teen experienced the horrors of war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hidden behind a row of homes in the town of Borodianka, Ukrainian police exhumed the bodies of nine civilians killed by Russian soldiers.

They're documenting evidence of war crimes. This mother stands over her son's body left in a makeshift grave. On the other side of the grave, we notice Ivan Onufrienko, staring quietly at the grave of another victim.

(on camera): One of your friends are buried here?

(voice over): Ivan says his friend was killed by Russian shrapnel as she tried to escape the city.

The cross bearing Katya's name was made by his grandfather who dug the shallow grave because they could not store the bodies at the hospital.

IVAN ONUFRIENKO, 16-YEAR-OLD BORODIANKA RESIDENT (through translator): I can't take this well when I see this. I cry but I'm not showing this. I feel weak. Weak because I cannot do anything.

LAVANDERA; Ivan is 16 years old. In two months of war, he has witnessed the innocence of childhood die before his eyes. Watching Ivan makes you wonder how a teenage mind copes with the horror in front of him.

His family says to understand, we must see what they experienced. Ivan's family never left this backyard shed for more than 30 days while Russian troops occupied the city. Ivan's grandfather and father showed us how they survived on nothing but homemade bread.

(on camera): So basically, they would take the grain -- the raw grain and grind it down into flour, or a version of flour. And then they would make their own bread in this oven. And that's what they lived on for more than a month.

(voice over): Five adults and four children hid in this underground bunker. This is where Ivan heard weeks of artillery blasts and cries for help, the sounds of war that will haunt survivors forever.

ONUFRIENKO: I slept here. My sister and my mom slept here. And another family slept here too. We tried to curl up and sleep here together. Sometimes when things got really scary, our dads would come down and stay with us.

LAVANDERA: Ivan's grandfather Sergiy (ph) says that Russian soldiers told him the family would be killed if they tried to escape. Police say more than 50 people were killed here, many of them shot as they tried to run away. The death toll is expected to climb.

(on camera): How frightening was this experience for you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't express it. It is war. It is scary. We never felt anything like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were hitting everything, smashing it.

LAVANDERA: Sergiy is stoic as we talk about surviving the Russian siege, but there is one question that pierces his heart.

(on camera): Do you worry about your grandchildren witnessing this war?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have words for that. Do you understand?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little ones can forget, but the older ones will remember always.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Grandfather and father note their children will never be the same.

(on camera): Why do you feel it was important to be here at this moment?

ONUFRIENKO: So people can see for themselves, the whole world should see how the Russian world comes and kill civilians for nothing.

LAVANDERA: When you get older, what do you think you will remember about this moment and this day?

[01:39:53]

ONUFRIENKO: I will remember everything. I will remember every day. And I will tell my children and my grandchildren. I will remember this all my life.

LAVANDERA (voice over): He is a teenager who refuses to look away from the raw reality of this war.

Ed Lavandera, CNN -- Borodianka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Just ahead, fresh clashes have broken out again today between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters. We'll get the latest from Jerusalem, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And this just coming in to us here at CNN, new clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. The site has of course, been a violent flash point over the last few weeks.

[01:44:51]

HOLMES: CNN's Hadas Gold joins me now on the line from Jerusalem. Hadas, bring us up to date on what's been happening.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes. Jerusalem had been on edge for at least a week as we've seen periodic clashes of violence breaking out on or around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

It is also known as the Temple Mount. It's a place incredibly holy to both Muslims and Jews. And videos we're seeing circulating online right now show hundreds of Palestinians throwing rocks towards Israeli security forces, and police using stun grenades and/or tear gas back at them.

According to the Israeli police this morning around 4:00 a.m. they say during one of the prayers, they say hundreds of rioters, some of them masked. They said some of them were holding the Hamas flags began throwing stones and fireworks. This is similar types of clashes we've been seeing in other days.

Police say that what they called the nonstop stone-throwing included some which were being hurled towards the back of the western wall. This is where Jews traditionally pray, and Jews are not allowed to go up to the compound to pray and most Jews pray at the western wall.

Police forces say that they had to go in to they say disperse demonstrations and peaceful prayer. The Palestinian (INAUDIBLE) 27 people were injured, two of them with serious to moderate injuries.

Right now things seem to be calming down, although there is still a whole day ahead of us. Later we did see videos that a tree on the compound also caught fire giving off big plumes of smoke. It's not clear for us yet whether this was from fireworks or tear gas.

Today is the third Friday of Ramadan, it's also the last day of Passover. This is the unique year where the holidays of Ramadan, Passover, and last week in the western Easter all overlapped. That hasn't happened since 1991.

So there is already sort of a sense of anticipation about this time period. There's also been a series -- it's been a tense series of weeks in Israel and across the West Bank for some time after those attacks on Israel that killed 14 people in Israel. Israeli military has increased its raids in the West Bank, and at least a dozen Palestinians have been killed Israeli forces as a result of what Israeli forces have said were violent situations.

And then just the night before last, rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. It's the second time rockets were fired in weeks. The Israeli military responded with what it called the most significant air strike since that 11-day war with Hamas led militants last year.

Keep in mind it was clashes and violence, tension in Jerusalem like we're seeing right now, that helped spark that 11-day war.

But I do have to say it doesn't seem like at the moment, militants in Gaza are gearing up for another major escalation but Hamas which is the militant group that runs Gaza has warned that their finger is on the trigger as they watch the events unfold in Jerusalem.

So we're continuing to monitor the situation right now at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Things can change very quickly right now, but now it's been a full week of just violent clashes that were seeing at this very holy site for so many people.

HOLMES: All right, Hadas Gold on the line from Jerusalem, appreciate it, thanks.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a trade trip to India. That isn't enough to distract from a new investigation over, yes, party gate.

We'll be right back.

[01:48:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a third investigation into the so-called, "partygate scandal". The probe will determine if Mr. Johnson knowingly misled parliament when he denied any rules were broken at Downing Street.

The scandal concerns a party held in June of 2020 at the prime minister's residence, when public health restrictions prohibited most gatherings. Mr. Johnson was fined by metropolitan police for attending the gathering, and numerous fines have been issued for a number of events that took place at Downing Street during national restrictions.

All of this is happening as Mr. Johnson is meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Mr. Johnson, on a trip to India, that Downing Street says will seal two way investment deals worth more than a billion U.S. dollars.

For more on all of this, I'm joined by CNN's Vedika Sud in New Delhi for us. Good to see you, Vedika.

Tell us about the talks but also fairly controversial visit by Mr. Johnson.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Already a controversial visit, Michael. There is a partygate scandal back at home, but on Thursday on day one of Boris Johnson's visit too in Delhi was in the western state of (INAUDIBLE) where he did visit this construction -- giant construction factory that is owned by the JCB a construction giant back in the U.K. and he was seen jumping atop an excavator.

Now that would make for a good photo op, (INAUDIBLE) pointed. But here's why it turned controversial. Over the last three weeks we've seen the same excavators even from the same company amongst others being used for demolishing structures mainly in very poor Muslim communities and residential areas in Delhi as well as the BJP ruled state of Majha Pradesh (ph). BJP is the party that Narendra Modi belongs to. So that has been highly controversial.

The issue of the demolition drive in Delhi posed (ph) a communal ride that took place on Saturday, and it's also being heard on India's top court -- the Supreme Court.

And when CNN spoke to some of the Muslim people belonging to the community and that residential area in Delhi, they claim that they are being targeted by some of the (INAUDIBLE) forces here in India.

And this international (ph) came out just after the British Prime Minister's visit to that factory. And they called it ignorant and they demanded that the British Prime Minister come out and talk about these issues with India's prime minister Narendra Modi who he meets in about five minutes from now.

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SUD: Now like you mentioned, trade deal talks are on the agenda, huge investments have been spoken about. Along with that, there will be talks on security and defense. And of course, Ukraine will also be on the agenda. There's been immense pressure on India from western countries to take a stand rather than a neutral stand that they have hinted over the last few weeks on the Russia-Ukraine war.

So that definitely will come up, according to Boris Johnson's press briefing yesterday. He will be taking it up with Narendra Modi.

Back to you, Michael.

HOLMES: All right Vedika. Appreciate the reporting there. Vedika Sud in New Delhi for us.

And thank you for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes.

Isa Soares in Ukraine, Kim Brunhuber here in Atlanta pick up the coverage right after the break.

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